The Enemy of My Enemy
by LotornoMiko
Summary: While on a survival training exercise, Allura answers a distress signal. It leads her to a familiar face, and an encounter with an enemy of both Drules and humans. Lotor Allura pairing.
1. Chapter 1

Standard Disclaimer Time! I do not own Lotor, Allura, or any of the characters of Voltron. That honor belongs to World Event Production. I do not make any money off of this fic, this is done for pure entertainment purposes.

-Michelle

The vastness of space stretched out before her, it's emptiness an illusion that was shattered by the millions of lights that lay splattered across it's canvas. She knew that some of those lights represented worlds, planets thousands of light years away from her. The lights that weren't worlds were stars, and they too twinkled and helped to chase away what would have been complete darkness.

Occasionally, the lights drew closer, a ship appearing out of thin air, disengaging from hyperspace. They always arrived a safe distance from her, there was never a danger of a collision, leaving Allura with little to worry about. At least in that regard, the girl knowing that at any moment, an enemy ship might wander into this protected territory. But that was what made this trip of hers exciting, Allura living for the rush of adrenaline, as her lion picked up the faint traces of a ship about to arrive.

Adrenaline aside, she was relieved when the appearing ship was proven to be a charter jet for the alliance, the vessel long and sleek and most likely carrying someone important judging by the escorting fighters that accompanied the vessel. The ships didn't pay any noticeable attention to Allura, they passed each other without so much as a greeting's communication.

She let out a sigh, disappointed by that, the girl having spent hours without contact of any kind. The last time she had talked to a real person was two days ago, and that was just before she left her home world of Arus. Her friends and team mates had been gathered around her lion, expressions ranging from worried frowns, to a rueful smile from Lance. They had been unsure of her decision, and it showed plainly with their concern, the gathered group trying to talk her out of doing the training exercise.

Allura had been more annoyed than touched by their concern, feeling it was one more way they sought to baby her. A familiar argument had ensued, Allura reasonable as she pointed out that each of the other four members of the Voltron force had been through this exercise. Indeed they had done much more than what she was attempting to do, enduring the rigorous training of Galaxy Garrison to become perfect soldiers for the alliance.

It was that training that had allowed them to endure being made slaves on Doom, to not only survive, but to escape the planet and make it to Arus. That same training allowed them to become candidates to fly the lions, and it was something the four young men excelled at. Allura often envied how easy they made it look, the girl struggling to keep up and not be a burden with her attempts to be a lion's pilot.

But even trying her hardest, it was apparent she was woefully unmatched for the skill that came of being a trained Garrison soldier. She was dragging the team down, and the recent encounter with Doom's latest monster had all but proved it, Allura needing to be rescued countless times in the course of one battle.

But she couldn't bear the thought of retiring her pilot's uniform, Allura loving blue lion, and the freedom piloting it gave her. And thus she found herself issuing a demand, begging Keith and the other pilots to train her in the ways of Garrison. They had been unsure of her, that much she could see in their eyes, the four hesitating. She had had to repeat that she wasn't some delicate, porcelain doll that would break if they got too rough and even then she had almost not gotten her way.

But finally their captain, Keith agreed, and despite Nanny's protests, Allura began to train in ways she had never done before. There was the early morning drills, Allura roused from bed to fly her lion at an ungodly hour. The other four lions were merciless towards her, throwing out every attack they had, forcing her to evade or suffer needless pain.

Those early days she had been hit often, her screams filling her lion's cock pit. It conditioned her, Allura knowing if she wanted to avoid the pain, she had to become faster, stronger, to be able to anticipate moves before they were initiated. It took time, months going by before she could get to the point of avoiding eighty-five percent of the attacks thrown her way. Black lion gave her the most difficulty, Keith an expert at picking out her weak spots.

Once her evasive maneuvers were deemed adequate, they began working on her attacks, robot manned vessels making up targets in the sky. When she first started her training, her aim had been so bad that five times out of ten, she'd miss the shot. The other times, she'd be widely off center, hitting the target, but not any of it's vital spots to bring it down.

Her team members had her practicing night and day, to the point it became almost automatic for Allura to shoot down the ships. She'd go to sleep, and in her dreams see the targets, her fingers twitching for imaginary triggers.

Target practice wasn't limited to just fighting in her lion, her team members had her work on wielding a pistol, Allura firing lasers at the well padded volunteers who ran circles around her. Her pistol was always set to stun, laser blast ricocheting off the walls, her shots wild and unsteady that first week. Over time she began to gain the control needed to fire off the heavy pistol, Allura using both hands to steady it as she took aim.

She became an expert at hitting still targets, and her accuracy with moving objects improved as well. The next stage in her training began, Allura learning how to fire when SHE was the one moving. It was difficult for her to manage, Allura finding she much preferred when she could stop and stand still, have the time to take proper aim, rather than the down and dirty brawls the Voltron force usually engaged in. She'd still be somewhat of a hindrance if she couldn't find proper cover to hide in while fighting, but at least she wouldn't be a complete disgrace to her team.

In addition to lion and pistol practice, they had her begin an exercise regime that was modified from the one they had undergone at Garrison. Three times a day, she had to run with her team mates, a strenuous jog that stretched on for miles and left her winded by the end of it. Allura was proud that by this point she could run five miles without panting, but knew she had a long way to go before she could handle the ten miles her team mates managed to make look effortless.

There was push ups, and sit ups, climbing exercises, and weight training. She had to practice carrying heavy bags of sand for long distances at a time, and Allura was pleased to see some muscles were developing in her slender arms.

And with the muscles and increased endurance, came confidence, Allura no longer making as many mistakes in battle. It could have been enough to stop her training right then and there, and indeed her advisor and Nanny pushed for just that. But Allura was never one to abandon something half way, the girl deciding she had to not only continue her training regime, she had to excel at it.

Eventually the time came when the next stage of her training would be introduced. In preparation for it, she and her team mates had gone on numerous trips to a near by planet, spending days there on camping exercises. It was all to get her ready for the week long excursion where she would be all on her own, left to survive on her own wits and skills, with only the provisions carried in her lion.

Naturally Nanny and Coran had been against the very idea of their princess going out into space, alone and unprotected save for blue lion. Her team mates hadn't been very thrilled by the idea either, and all had worked to change her mind. But Allura had been adamant, saying she needed this training, needed to prove not only to them, but to herself, that she was a capable young woman who could survive out on her own.

It had been two days since she had left Arus, two days since she had last seen her friends. She missed them, even missed the duties her title of princess carried with it. Allura knowing she wouldn't have minded to see Coran arriving with piles of paperwork for her to attend to. Anything to break up the boredom of space!

It would be another day and a half before her desire was answered, the shrill beeping of a distress signal jarring Allura out of an uncomfortable sleep. She was disorientated, but not so that she couldn't recognize the sound for what it was. Someone was in trouble, to the point they had to send out a cry for help on an unsecured channel, risking both foe and scavenger to be drawn to them.

Allura knew she couldn't allow it, could not allow someone in distress to be put in any further danger. She immediately began working the console of her lion, having it's computer track the signal, and transfer it's coordinates to her. She recognized the planet it was coming from, the world not too far away from her current location. She didn't even hesitate, though Allura had been given strict orders not to deviate from the path that Pidge had mapped out for her.

Telling herself her team mates would understand, she veered a hard right, almost turning in place in her haste to fly out on the proper path. Her lion's engines roared a protest, but then was settling into it's topmost speed. It had plenty of fuel to burn, she could make it to that planet within three hours time, and still have plenty of fuel for the trip back to Arus.

She took the time to send a coded message to Arus, her words explaining why she had left her post. It would be up to the Voltron Force whether they came after her or not, but Allura almost hoped they wouldn't. She wanted the chance to prove herself, to show she could handle something as simple as answering a distress call. She didn't know what kind of help was needed, but Allura felt confidant her new training had prepared her for most outcomes.

She listened to the insistent beeping of the distress signal, the sound seeming to grow weaker as the hours went by. But the lion had locked onto the signal's location, and even if it died completely, she'd still have the coordinates on hand.

The planet she was brought to was snow covered on one dusky hemisphere. She was relieved to see the distress signal was coming from one of the warmer areas of the planet, Allura knowing she had not brought any clothing suitable for the icier climes. As it was, the warmer weather might prove too hot for her pilot's uniform, Allura doing a slow descent down to the planet's surface.

A word flickered across her screen, the name of the planet, though it was unrecognizable to Allura. Information came up, listing the planet's size, and population, Allura noting it was one of the smaller worlds in the Galaxy Alliance. It was a class D planet, in the early stages of technology, it's civilization only recently making contact with other worlds. But contact had been made, and thus the inhabitants wouldn't be frightened at the sight of a ship soaring through their sky. Even one shaped like a lion!

There was thick plumes of smoke stretching up towards her, Allura mistaking them for the smog that came during battle. Her lion flew through the clouds of smoke, and as she continued downwards, it soon became apparent it wasn't pollution, nor the wreckage of a downed ship. The gray smoke was curling out of the tops of volcanos, over twenty of them dotting the land mass she was drawing near to.

The land mass itself looked brittle, all blackened tar, with rivers of fresh flowing lava that intersected with each other. The lava was a bright orange glow, and in one was floating black bits of a life form that had fallen into it's path. The blackened bits were rapidly melting and pulling apart, and soon there would be no sign of whatever that had been. She shuddered and quickly flew higher, trying to avoid the jets of hot air that shot out of the volcanos.

In the distance, was a rocky outcropping of land, stones and tar mixed together where the lava couldn't reach it. It was the ideal spot for her lion to land, but Allura did a cautious circling of the area, her nerves fleeing her as she realized the distress signal was coming from somewhere among the volcanos. A strong sense of fear filled her, Allura not wanting to go into the heart of that arid land.

"Stop being such a coward!" She admonished with a loud hiss, breath rustling the bangs on her forehead. Allura knew she had to get over this fear, and go answer the distress call before something or someone got to the person who had sent it. But her hands were shaking, Allura closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I can do this." She told herself, and guided the lion lower.

Smoke trailed off the sleek slides of the lion, Allura hearing the sound of rocks being upset as her ship's paws touched the unstable ground. A large pebble rolled down to a small pool of lava, hissing sounds being roused as it began to melt. Allura nearly lost her reserve then and there at the sound, sitting shaking in her seat for a good ten minutes.

It was enough time for the distress signal to silence itself completely, and the absence of it's noise startled her into action. Unfastening her seat belt, Allura reached for a pack of supplies, small enough that it wouldn't hinder her movements as she traversed the dangerous terrain. Such was her strong sense of fear, that she began rooting through her supply pack, double checking the medical supplies and food rations. When she realized what she was doing, Allura grit her teeth, and climbed out of her lion, supply pack slung into place on her back.

The heat hit her immediately, the air seeming to waver before her. The lion had been air-conditioned, maintaining the perfect temperature to protect her from the overwhelming heat of this continent. She immediately began to sweat, Allura grateful that her hair was up in a bun, keeping her long stands from weighing her down. She paused to put on her helmet, hoping it would help filter out some of the rancid smell of the this all too hot land.

The coordinates of the distress signal's origin had been downloaded into a hand held tracker, Allura stepping carefully onto the tar coated land. The tracker beeped quietly, the signal continuos as long as she was headed in the right direction.

A few times she almost turned back, the fear nearly overwhelming, especially when the ground shook and rattled, a volcano seeming close to erupting. Somehow she found the courage to press forward, reminding herself that there was a person out there who needed her. The beeping of the tracking device helped hammer that reminder home, Allura walking for what felt like hours before she arrived at the wreckage sight.

The ship was unrecognizable, all bent metal, and melted down parts. She couldn't tell what make and model the ship had been, and Allura feared the worse for it's pilot. All her earlier fear faded, Allura rushing towards ruined ship, and shoving aside parts. She began calling out to it's pilot, shouting for them to answer her. But there was no answer, not even a moan, Allura shifting aside what had once been the cockpit's door.

Even with her gloves in place, she could feel the heat of the metal, Allura knowing she would have burnt her skin black if she had laid her hands unprotected on the ship. She continued moving pieces, hoping for a sign, something to prove her journey here had not been in vain, when she saw it. A glove that had once been white, torn in spots so that blood trickled onto the ground.

She hurriedly began moving the rubble about, until she uncovered the person who the gloved hand belonged to. It was a man, strong and muscled, though right now he lay face down in the tar. His white hair was clumped together with soot, the white turning to patches of ash gray and black. He was a big man, several feet taller than she, and Allura labored to turn him over. She nearly dropped him when she saw his face, Allura gasping in shock.

"Lotor!"

Her shocked cry seemed to rouse him, his eyelids cracking open just a slit for her to see a gold gleam. She stared down at him, and his right hand seized hold of her arm, preventing her from backing away as his eyes snapped open the rest of the way. Dim awareness seemed to be in his eyes, Lotor looking confused to see her. But he didn't say her name, didn't make demands, or threaten her.

Instead he whispered a word that had all her fears rising back up to the forefront, Allura shivering as though cold. "What did you say?" She asked, needing him to repeat himself, and wishing he had said anything but that.

"The Keraclon." Lotor's voice was hoarse, she could see he was struggling to remain conscious. "They're here...got to get away..."

"They're here?" Allura repeated, alarmed and risking a glance away from Lotor. Already his grip on her arm was weakening, fingers going limp as he began to pass out. He had enough strength left to nod, Allura swallowing a scream. The Keraclon were nightmares brought to life, evil beings that everyone, even the Drules of the Doom Empire feared. That they could be responsible for Lotors' current situation Allura easily believed, the girl shivering as she gave a paranoid look towards their surroundings.

To Be Continued...

Michelle


	2. Chapter 2

The fear was back, stronger than ever, Allura shaking violently as Lotor slumped downwards. She barely took notice of the Drule prince sprawled in an uncomfortable position across her lap, she was biting back a hysterical scream. She didn't voice it, not wanting to draw the danger that lurked out in this hot wasteland to them. Somewhere, maybe closer than she wanted to believe, lurked the Keraclon. How many she did not know, but even one would be a hazard, Allura taking in a desperate gulp of air.

Allura now understood why she kept filling with fear, the reason why ever since she had drawn near to this continent, she had been plagued with doubts and terror. Such fear that should have been strong enough to get her to turn back if not for her strong sense of right and wrong. That was both a blessing and a curse, Allura wishing she had given in to the urge to flee upon the first tasting of fear.

The Keraclon were out there, and with them, came their threat. She was feeling a part of it right now, this all consuming fear she was experiencing. The Keraclon were known for their ability to induce fear in any and all creatures, it was a simple but effective mind trick they played. That they were sending out so strong a wave of fear surely meant they were trying to keep any and all help away from Prince Lotor.

Now that she thought about it, she realized she hadn't seen any animals that were native to this continent, nor any birds that dared the heat to fly about this land. If Allura hadn't been battling her own fear she would have picked up on that sooner, and she almost cursed herself for overlooking such a detail. That they could chase away so many of the continent's wildlife in so big an area spoke of the power these particular Keraclon's possessed.

As well as the numbers, Allura wondering just how many were out there, searching for Lotor. She also wondered just what he had done to come across such a determined group, Allura knowing the Drules went out of their way to avoid encountering the Keraclon. It was the same with the rest of the Denubian Galaxy, the people no matter the race fearing these nightmares.

She shivered again, and glanced down at the face of prince Lotor, seeing the tremble of his eyelids. That surely meant he dreamt, and the way he seemed to writhe spoke volumes of the dreams that plagued him. The Keraclon were affecting his dreaming images, allowing him to see something he feared. Allura wondered what sort of sights could disturb a Drule prince so much, especially one with the reputation that Lotor had.

Just thinking of his reputation made her as angry as she was fearful, Allura remembering the stories, some she had even had the misfortune to witness herself. Of people being enslaved, worlds destroyed, lives ruined. Even her own flesh and blood had not been able to escape, her cousin Romelle suffering as Lotor's personal slave. For that reason alone she should leave him, let the fate the Keraclon's had planned for him happen.

And yet she hesitated when he moaned, Allura ever the bleeding heart. That moan held genuine fear in it, laced with the pain of his injuries. Allura tried to push back her fear to look him over, and assess the extent of his injuries. She told herself that was all she was going to do, to check him over and see if he had a fighting chance against his Keraclon pursuers. She certainly wasn't going to stick around long enough to become a target of that race herself!

And she would be a target, the Keraclon knowing no mercy, not to Drules, and certainly not to humans. What a find they would have, to not only have the crown prince of the Doom Empire, but the princess of Arus. She might not have an empire to her name, but she did have Voltron, Allura knowing she would make a fine hostage for the Keraclon. She shivered at the thought, not wanting to think of the demented things they would do to her while she was in their care.

She gave a sharp jerk of her head, and focused on Lotor. And gasped as she noticed the lacerations all over his body. His uniform had been torn in many places, the thick fibers turned into jagged tears where the shrapnel had pummeled his body. She could make out his wounded skin through the tears, blood having soaked the fabric around the cuts. Some still bled, trickles that fell onto the tar, and onto the white spandex of her uniform.

His one arm was bent at an awkward angle, Allura realizing it was broken and would need setting. Some internal instinct took over, Allura shifting enough to get Lotor off her lap, the girl removing her pack. Sifting through the contents, she found the small medical kit, and broke open it's seal. Gauze, bandages, cleansing cloths, and various ointments and pills were revealed to her, Allura setting about to trying to staunch the flow of Lotor's bloodiest wound.

As she worked, the prince kept on dreaming, moaning softly as his fingers flexed. He tried to move his broken arm, as though to ward off some invisible attacker. It only succeeded in making him cry out in pain, Lotor's eyes snapping open once more. He stared glassy eyed at Allura, the girl looking startled at him. Her hands had frozen on the wound on his stomach, fingers still pressing the gauze down. He didn't look like he realized she was really there, and yet he began to smile.

"Allura..." He said, and once again tried to move his broken arm. This time he grunted from the pain, teeth clenched together to hold in the scream. His eyes widened, and he lost some of that unfocused look, expression almost amazed. "That hurts...it can't be a dream then. You're here..."

"Not for much longer." Allura said, abandoning her hands' hold on the gauze. "I'm leaving now...you can keep the pack...use it to patch yourself up...Maybe it'll help you survive for longer than a few seconds." She felt terrible for saying that, but she was trying to be hard, cold and impervious to anything he might have to say. He was her enemy, and one who had tormented her, her family, and her people for nearly two years time. His crimes were only lessened in the face of the misdeeds his father had committed over sixteen years time, and though Zarkon was the bigger monster, Allura did not feel safe to be around a conscious Lotor.

"You're leaving?" He sounded disappointed, Lotor frowning at her. His eyes blinked rapidly, as though he was struggling to stay awake. Allura gave a stiff nod, doing an awkward inch back from him. This time he reached out with his good arm, fingers locking in place around her wrist. She noted one of the seams on the glove had split apart, revealing two of his fingers, long nails broken during his ship's crash.

"Let go of me." Allura was terse, trying to jerk back at the same time he pulled. It nearly set her off balance, Allura lashing out with her hand, to push it against Lotor's

chest. He was weakened, easily falling onto his back at her push, and she stared surprised.

"Allura don't go." Lotor said, struggling to sit back up.

"I have to." She retorted. "The Keraclon are coming." She saw the fear flicker for a moment in his eyes, he knew what that meant, and the tortures he would suffer at their hands if caught by them.

"The Keraclon are already here." Lotor said softly, earning a paranoid look around from Allura. "You can feel it, can't you? The waves of fear they are sending out?"

"Yes." A one word answer, spoken through clenched teeth. "What have you done Lotor?" He flashed her a confused look, Allura narrowing her eyes at him. "They must want you pretty badly. What did you do to gain their attention?"

He tried for an innocent look, Lotor touching his injured arm with his good hand. She sighed then, thinking he would not answer and was surprised when he did. "I didn't have to do anything but exist. Allura, they're EVIL. They take pleasure in hunting down others, in torturing them..."

"I used to think no one could be more evil than the Drule..." Allura whispered, shaken to hear the monster that had frightened her for so many years could name someone else as evil.

"Someday I'd like to debate with you on what is and isn't evil for a Drule." Lotor replied. "But now isn't the time. Not when they are out there, searching..."

And every second they spent talking might be the second that cost her, her escape from the Keraclon. She started to stand, and Lotor attempted to mimic her movements. He was still lethargic and out of it, falling down to his knees from his attempt at going upright. Allura felt a twinge of pity go through her to see the prince fall, but she stopped herself from bending over him.

"I have to go." Allura told him, and began to turn from him. The fear was consuming her, telling her to leave him to his fate, to run as fast as she could and not look back.

"Take me with you." Lotor said, and it sounded like an order.

"You'll only slow me down..." Allura said, trying to firm her resolve. His hand closed around her ankle, Lotor tugging urgently on it. She glanced down at him, and saw him looking urgent at her. "I can't afford the risk of you..."

"Don't leave me." Lotor said, and somehow he managed to keep his request from being outright pleading. His eyes shown with pain and the fear he was fighting with, Lotor's voice going hoarse in the moment. "Don't leave me to die..."

The words got to her, a tight feeling arising in her chest at his earnest plea. Lotor truly believed he would die if she left him behind. What's worse, Allura knew it to be true, his fate in her hands. She tried to remind herself of all the bad things he had done, and yet couldn't justify giving him a death sentence. Maybe if she could have been sure the Keraclon would have shown mercy to him, she would have abandoned him, but what she knew of the alien race was exactly the opposite.

"All right." She said out loud, giving him a fierce glare. "All right, damn you!" He relaxed his grip on her ankle with a sigh, Lotor almost closing his eyes. She was tempted to kick him then, Allura almost snarling. "Do not go to sleep on me now!"

His eyes quickly opened, Lotor looking guilty. "I won't..." He said, and offerer his attempt at a disarming smile. "I'll rest when we get out of this mess."

"IF we get out of it." Allura corrected him, kneeling down to gather up her pack's belongings. Thankfully he did not try to talk to her as she stuffed the pack with the med kit, waiting until she stood again. "Well?" Allura demanded, glaring at him. "Get up!"

"I'll need some assistance in that regard." Lotor admitted with a rueful smile. She eyed him suspiciously, getting the feeling he was enjoying what he had to tell her. "I think my ankle is twisted..."

"Of for heaven's sake!" Allura muttered, and knelt down next to him. She was leery of touching him, and yet Allura found herself placing his good arm across her shoulders. Lotor leaned into her, and she swore he took the opportunity to sniff at her hair. Anger flared at his violation of her personal space, and it helped chase away the fear the Keraclon were assaulting the area with.

"Up you go." Allura said, and together they stood, Lotor leaning heavily into her. She gritted her teeth at the forced closeness between them, Allura walking them as quickly as she could manage. Lotor stumbled, and did an awkward hop, trying to keep up with her hurried pace. It left him tired, Lotor closing his eyes every chance he got, Allura constantly having to jostle him to keep him from falling asleep.

"How far is your lion?" Lotor asked, and she hesitated.

"How do you know I'm with my lion?"

He fixed her with a belittling look. "Honestly Allura, you're out in the middle of nowhere, in your pilot's uniform. Of course you're with your lion." He looked around then. "Is your teammates near by?"

She hesitated, not sure she should admit that she was here alone. "Keith and the others are...near." Allura figured once they decoded her message, the Voltron Force would be on their way to the planet. Lotor need never know she lied about it.

"Near eh?" Lotor gave her a searching look, and she snapped out a command to pay attention to the ground they walked on. "I bet the Keraclon's fear waves have chased them off. Bunch of cowards."

"They are not cowards!" Allura snapped. "They are brave young men, and they would fight off the Keraclons influence to rescue a person in need."

"But only if that person wasn't a Drule." Retorted Lotor. "Face it Allura, as soon as they saw me, they would have turn tails and run. And that's if they didn't shoot me first!"

Allura gasped. "Take that back! The Voltron Force would never shoot an injured man!"

"Not even if he was the greatest threat they've ever known?" Lotor wanted to know, with an odd quirking of his lips.

"Not even if." Allura insisted.

"I can't tell if you are just that naive, or if that's really the truth." Lotor murmured, walking with an exaggerated limp. She would have colored then, embarrassed by the naivety he perceived in her, but a sound was heard. Both of them instantly whipped their heads about, trying to ascertain where the sound had come from. The anger she had felt over Lotor's words faded, the fear rising in degrees within her.

"What was that..." Allura began to ask, but Lotor let out a hiss for her to be quiet. He was scanning the area, though what he thought he could do, Allura did not know. And then she heard it, like a dozen claws scraping on rock, the sharp click clack of the Keraclon's feet approaching. She couldn't tell how many were drawing near, the scrape of claws distorted the sound. It could have been one, it could have been a dozen, she had no way of knowing for sure.

Stiffening, she glanced at Lotor, eyes showing her fear. She didn't need a mirror to know they were going all white, Allura shaking violently. Lotor's eyes remained golden, black slits thick, not betraying what he felt. He locked eyes with her, and did a subtle nod of his head, Allura glancing at an outcropping of rocks. It was just small enough for a slim human to fit through, Allura's eyes widening in shock.

Silently she mouthed his name, a question in her eyes. Was he really going to let her hide, while he stayed out in the open? From the nod of his head, she assumed yes, Lotor trying to limp forward with her. She began to shake her head, and he mouthed her name, eyes looking furious. They seemed to tell her not to argue with him, Allura going to her knees to crawl into the space.

Lotor positioned himself to the side of the rocks, leaning against them. He was drawing his sword, though what he thought to do with it, she couldn't guess. The click clack of dozens of claws scraping on the rock increased in tempo, the Keraclons being drawn by the hum of lazon. They had to know it was Lotor's sword that made the sound, and it drew the Keraclon's to him, the aliens eager to lay claws on their prey.

Allura's fear was such that she almost forgot she had her own weapon on the side of her hip holster, a pistol that was painted white to match her uniform. Her hands fumbled to draw it, Allura shaking as she held it before her. She waited, holding her breath, fearing the sound of it being expelled would attract attention to her hiding spot. And then she saw it, a lone Keraclon coming out into the open.

It was fiercesome because it made itself that way, projecting an image that would horrify it's prey. Allura squinted her eyes shut, and told herself she wasn't seeing a demon straight from the pits of hell, but an alien cloaked with telepathy that was based on fear. She tried to distract herself by thinking of what Lotor was seeing, the prince drawing in an angry breath, and tensing with his sword. He looked ready to lunge forward and attack the Keraclon, wanting to strike down whatever image it was showing to him.

He didn't talk, didn't make a sound save for an angry growl. The Keraclon paused to look him over, a deep laughter rumbling out of it's chest. The laughter was unlike anything Allura had ever heard, it nearly caused her to wet herself in fear, and she placed the heel of her hand to her mouth to muffle her panicked sounds. Allura tried to remind herself whatever she was seeing, and hearing was not real, that somewhere beneath the fear and illusion was the real Keraclon. And nothing could be as terrifying as the devil she saw now, the creature looking like a warped image of her father's killer.

The claws scraped again, the only sound perhaps that was of the Keraclon's true form. Allura took a steady aim as it drew closer to Lotor, noting it was mocking the prince with it's slow pace. The Keraclon knew he couldn't escape, not with his twisted foot limiting his walk to a slow, dragging limp. The Keraclon seemed to relish agitating the prince, slowly striding forward, it's horrible laughter echoing around them.

She broke before Lotor did, screaming in fear. The Keraclon turned, her voice taking it by surprise. It hadn't known she was there, so focused on Lotor. As it faced her hiding spot, Allura opened fire, her hand shaking but managing a somewhat steady aim to catch the Keraclon in the chest. It screamed, more outraged than in pain, the waves of fear coursing through her increasing. It made Allura shoot off another shot, the princess wanting the object of her fear dead.

It would take three more shots before the Keraclon fell to the tar covered ground, body twitching. She stared at it all the while, waiting in fear for this particular nightmare to rise again. It didn't, and it wasn't until Lotor limped over to it, that Allura realized her mistake. She hadn't used a killing charge, but a stunning one, the Keraclon still alive. The image never wavered, the creature staring at her with open eyes. Those eyes seemed to bulge when Lotor stabbed his sword into the general area of its chest, the Drule prince giving a mighty wrench of his sword.

To Be Continued...

Michelle

Lotor Sincline, thank you for the support! :) Ah, I don't know much about Star Trek. Are the Borg the ones who assimilate people into the collective? Kinda like uh...the Phalanax in the X-men books?

Christine, the Dark Rose Maiden, thanks! Yeah, hopefully the Keraclon will seem pretty terrifying, especially as I reveal more and more about them. They're not exactly telephathic, but more like empaths that can forcefully project constant fear to their enemies, to make them so scared and unable to think! I have this image in my head, that when they go to ivnade, they have a whole group of them on each ship sending out the fear transmissins so that the enemies can't fight back cause they're so scared in their heads!

Misty Gargoyle, thank you! I hope some of what I revealed in this chapter helped explain, while wetting your appetite for more! This was originally meant to be a short story, but damn if the plot bunnies aren't giving me ideas to have Doom team up with Voltron against the common enemy! XD *runs from the monster sized idea.*

DimerasLover, thank you! Heh heh, I like the thought of Allura being a one woman army in this fic! At least good enough to protect her and Lotor! And carry him to her lion if need be...well more like drag. XD Well I don't know if I suceeded in creating something more evil than Zarkon. I'll let you and the others who read be the judge as I reveal more and more about the Keraclon threat. This story started cause I had two strong images in my head, one being Allura rescuing Lotor, and the other being a threat that could project fear straight into your head. And thus this fic was born!


	3. Chapter 3

Letting out a deep, shaky breath, Allura reholstered her blaster, a cautious hand reaching to grip the rocky crevice's edge. She was pulling herself up and out of her hiding spot, Allura's eyes not for Lotor so much as it was for the twitching body of the Keraclon. Even in death, it's body spasmed, and it nearly arched up off the ground to follow Lotor's sword, the Drule prince giving a mighty heave to tear it free of the Keraclon's chest.

He didn't look towards her, Lotor staring down at the Keraclon, lips forming a disgusted sneer. His good arm was shaking his sword out, huge drops of the Keraclon's blood flying. It wasn't colored the typical red of both the humans and the Drules, instead being an unhealthy green. It just reminded Allura of the differences between them and the alien, the princess slowly approaching Lotor and the dead Keraclon.

It had fallen face down onto the ground, Lotor having struck it's vitals from behind. She knew in his injured state, the prince had only been able to strike a killing blow thanks in part to her, Allura having fired off her blaster repeatedly. It had stunned the creature, enough so that it was weakened, and though they could have just left it there to wile out the hours in sleep, Allura knew the alien had had to die.

It didn't make her stomach what they had done any easier, Allura not the type to enjoy killing. Not like Lotor probably did, Allura fighting the impulse to turn and stare at him. Instead she studied the Keraclon, noting the ragged strips of clothing the alien wore. Those tears allowed room for the spiky protrusions that grew out of the Keraclon's skin, each tip jagged and sharp. It sorta reminded Allura of an earth creature, but no earth animal had ever had spikes as thick and long as these.

They were as thick as a human man's arms, and the rumors had it that the Keraclon were able to eject the spikes from their bodies. Such deadly looking objects would make effective projectiles, and Allura was grateful this one hadn't thought to do that. She didn't know for certain if a Keraclon could really use those spikes as a weapon, so little was known about the actual species' physiology.

The fact that one was dead at her feet afforded her a great opportunity, Allura knowing the scientists at Garrison would kill for a chance to study and dissect a Keraclon. But with Lotor injured, she had no way of bringing this Keraclon's body to her lion, and she sighed at the opportunity lost. Still she knelt down besides it, studying it's body, noting the feet whose toes were short claws, a dozen on each appendage.

That included it's hands, the claws longer and sharper here, to better grasp and rend apart it's prey. The claws from both the hands and the feet made a distinctive

sound when the Keraclon moved, the clitter clatter of them a loud announcement of their arrival. Allura shivered and began to reach out to touch the Keraclon, and it was Lotor's injuries that made him too slow to stop her.

"What are you doing?" He demanded, as her hand touched the Keraclon's arm. Some kind of moisture that wasn't blood soaked into her gloves, Allura wondering at it's purpose. "Leave it."

"I want to see." Allura insisted, struggling to roll the Keraclon onto it's back. It was only through the weight training she had recently undergone, that Allura had enough muscle to move the heavy alien. She stared with sheer curiosity at it's face, noting it's red colored skin, and the pupil less eyes that were all black. They stared back at her, sightless, it's mouth still open in it's snarl of angry pain. She could see row upon row of fangs, and they weren't the neat incisors of the Drule, but jagged points that reminded her of a shark.

It's nose was almost nonexistent, just two holes to allow it to breathe. The true form of the Keraclon was as gruesome to behold, as it was to withstand the fear they induced, Allura thinking they needn't cloak themselves in illusion to cause her to fear them. And with that thought came the sudden realization, Allura jerking her gaze up to the frowning Prince Lotor's.

"The fear!" She gasped, realizing it had never left, perhaps hadn't even lessened in intensity. The urge to flee, to leave Lotor behind was still strong in her, the Keraclon's telephaty trying to ensure no help would come to the Drule prince. "It's still here..."

"There's more than one Keraclon pursuing me." Lotor told her, and she couldn't help the shiver that coursed through her. She shouldn't have thought it would be over with the death of just one, the waves of fear too strong, signifying that there was more out there. But how many? It could be just a handful, or a small army. Either one could be responsible for the fear, the numbers would just affect how wide an area they could blanket with their waves of fear.

"We better go." Allura said, pushing up off her knees.

"An excellent idea." Lotor said, sheathing his sword. He was leaning back against the wall of rock, looking at her expectantly. Allura held back a sigh, and came over to him, offering her body as a crutch for him to use. A glimmer of a smile was on his face as he put his arm over her shoulders, Lotor once again leaning heavily into her. Their height differences made it awkward, Lotor having to crouch down, while Allura strained herself on tip toe, walking almost as funny as Lotor's limp.

They didn't look back at the dead Keraclon, Allura moving them determinedly forward. "Should we really just leave it there?" She asked Lotor out loud. He gave a nod, seeming uncaring about the body.

"If the Keraclon care about their own, they'll tend to the body. Lotor shrugged then. "If not, once they leave, the scavengers will make a fine meal out of it. Either way, it's no longer our problem."

"Yeah." Silence for a few seconds, and then Allura glanced at him. He was looking straight ahead, but his brow was furrowed, sweat staining the sides of his face. She realized he was concentrating on ignoring his pain, and though she felt bad for him, she kept from commenting on it. She knew there was little she could do for him at the moment, save for continuing to support him in a bid to reach her lion.

But there was still some ways to go before they could reach blue lion, and every step had to be a torment for Lotor. Truth be known, it was a small agony for Allura as well, the princess fearing they would stumble across more of the Keraclon.

"What is it?" Lotor asked, having noted she was staring at him rather than the direction they were moving in.

"It's nothing." Allura said, shaking her head no. "Just thinking."

"Can't keep your eyes off my handsome face." She was incensed by that until she realized it was Lotor's attempt at a joke, Allura giving a rueful smile.

"Something like that." She muttered, noting the strain that showed around his eyes. "Maybe we should stop and let you rest a bit."

"We can't afford that chance!" Lotor protested, not even slowing. "Every minute we delay, is a second that brings the Keraclon closer to us."

"True.." Allura agreed with a sigh. "I just don't want you to collapse before we can get to my lion."

"I won't." He grunted, then smiled. "Drules are made of sterner stuff than humans."

"So I hear..." She murmured, deciding not to take insult. She doubted he had meant it in an offensive way, and it seemed petty to quibble over whether Drules had better stamina than humans.

"You've gotten better." Lotor said, after another five minutes passed in silence. Again she glanced at him, a question in her eyes. "With your blaster I mean. You hit that Keraclon dead center, he would have died if you hadn't had it on stun."

She flushed then, angry at herself for such a mistake. "I wasn't thinking when I opened fire." Allura admitted. "I should have pushed past the fear to change the setting on my weapon."

"There's no need to feel ashamed." Lotor reassured her. "Anyone could have made that mistake with the Keraclon's fear pressing in on them."

"I bet you wouldn't have." She said, and he smiled. "Or Keith..."

"Well, the captain and I have been at this much longer than you have." Lotor reassured her. "And it was impressive. I remember the last time I saw you shoot...You didn't come close to hitting me."

Her blush bloomed crimson, Allura remembering how she had open fire on an amorous Lotor. He had cornered her near her lion, spouting such nonsense about marrying her, and uniting their two kingdoms. She had been terrified then, sure he was going to kidnap her, and take her back to Doom. It had been sheer desperation that caused her to open fire on him, and the closest she came to scoring a direct hit was to shoot up the ground before his toes.

"I've been practicing." Allura informed him, and again he flashed that disarming smile.

"I know."

"You know?" She demanded with a frown. "Have you been spying on me?"

"Doom has an extensive intelligence network when it comes to obtaining information." Lotor retorted. "And it wasn't as though you were trying to hide what you were doing. Though I wonder why you go to such efforts..."

"I want to be able to fight off the menace of your people!" She interrupted him. Lotor continued without so much as a blink, looking totally serious.

"Then marry me, and Arus need not have to worry about Doom." Allura's mouth dropped open in shock, taken aback by what he said. "Think on it Allura. Your people wouldn't be enslaved, would no longer need to hide. We could help you, advance your cities, share technology with you, help you to recover from the war."

"I wouldn't do that!" Allura snapped back. "I wouldn't save Arus at the expanse of the rest of the Galaxy. I know you, I know your father. He would use Voltron to go on a galaxy spanning conquest. Those people's torment would be on my shoulders..."

"It's true my father WOULD want to use Voltron to further his own ambitions." Lotor agreed. "But you shouldn't judge me or my people based on his actions alone."

"I don't." Allura retorted coldly. "I'm well aware of the evil you have done on your own. The crimes and misdeeds your Drule do, continue to commit."

"Allura, we are at war." Lotor sounded exasperated then. "Of course each side will be seen to do evil to the opposition. And lest you forget, you and your people's hands are not clean of blood. Your Voltron Force alone has killed plenty of Drules, and attacked our holdings."

"That was in self defense!" Allura hissed, outraged and angry. "Your people started this war...keep it going day after day, year after year! We're only protecting what is ours!"

"Oh? Is it protection when you come to attack a planet that has nothing to do with Arus? When you attempt to liberate a world from the Doom Empire?" Lotor's tone was mild, as though he was making polite inquiry.

Allura was at a loss for words only for a moment, and then she snapped out a retort. "It is when you would use that world's resources to further devastate Arus!"

"Those worlds you sought to liberate from Doom, some of them were peaceful, the people settled into a good life."

"As slaves?" She demanded caustically.

"No, as citizens of Doom! Take Tyrus for instance. The people were on equal grounds with the Drules, and they were flourishing under my father's rule. Flourishing until your Voltron Force came along and upset everything!" Lotor retorted.

"They're free now, and that's all that matters." Allura replied, and Lotor let out a bitter laugh.

"Do you really believe that? Free..." He practically spat out the word, his disgust palpable. "At what cost? They're badly impoverished now, the people starving and out of work. Just one more planet left for the Alliance's charity. Oh yes, so much better to be free and poor, then to be thriving, productive members of the Doom Empire!"

She was turning red again, Allura feeling the heat in her cheeks. Though not from an embarrassed blush, but from her anger at his words. "And how does the Doom Empire decide who to enslave, and who to make citizens?"

"It's simple." Lotor told her. "Those who are not with us, are enemies, and should be treated as such."

"Arus knows all too well how you treat your enemies."

"We could be so much more Allura. Friends, allies...lovers..." Lotor smirked at the last, and she turned cold and haughty.

"That will never happen."

"How can you be so sure?" He wanted to know, and she stared straight ahead.

"After Doom's crimes? There can be nothing but hostility between our two worlds." He started to make a protest, and she turned almost savage then. "If you persist in this line of talk, I will leave you here, my sympathies be damned!"

"So the conversation isn't going the way you like, so you just abandon it?" Lotor asked, snide and displeased with her. She began to step away from him, and he tightened his arm's hold on her to keep her near. "Fine...have it your way princess. I'll say no more. But someday you'll be ready to hear me out."

"It won't be anytime soon." Allura retorted, and pressed her lips into a thin line, signaling the end of the conversation. Thankfully Lotor seemed to heed her threat, lapsing into silence, though he didn't loosen his arm's hold. If anything, he continued to lean even heavier against her, Allura struggling not to fall over as they moved. Save for their breathing, and the occasional burst of hot air that the nearby volcanoes let out, it was quiet. Perhaps too quiet, Allura shivering and finding her thoughts starting to wander.

The waves of fear the Keraclon were emitting chipped away at her mind, Allura finding she was more susceptible to them when she wasn't filled with anger at Lotor. And yet she didn't want to continue the upsetting attempt at a discussion about their worlds' war, Allura staring stoically ahead.

"How much further." Lotor asked, gruff tone interrupting the silence when nearly twenty minutes had passed them by.

"Not too much further." Allura sighed then, feeling tired of having to hold up Lotor. But she didn't comment a loud that he was holding back her progress, Allura shifting her hand around his waist.

"Let us pray the Keraclon haven't come across your lion." Lotor muttered, and she startled at that. What would they do if the lion had been discovered, if even now the Keraclon were laying in wait, intending to trap them as she walked them towards their only escape from this planet? Her new found worries must have shown on her face,

Lotor suddenly nuzzling his lips against the side of her scalp. "I'm sorry." He said, even as she bristled at the intimate touch. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"I'd be a lot less worried if you'd stop taking chances to sneak inappropriate touches!" Allura said, some of her temper flaring. He smiled though, leaving her to wonder if he had done that to purposefully distract her from her worries. Either way, she wouldn't thank him, dragging him over to steep incline of rock and tar. She left him leaning against the wall of it, and stared up at the hill.

"Don't tell me we have to climb this to get to your lion..." Lotor moaned, and Allura nodded.

"Afraid so." A sigh then, from both of them. "The only other way is blocked off by a river of lava. I doubt you want to try crossing THAT."

"I don't." Lotor agreed, and closed his eyes for a moment. "All right...let me just get a breath in."

"Take your time." Allura said, studying him in concern. "Will you be able to manage? With your foot and arm like that?"

"As long as I have you to support me, I should be fine."

And still she worried, Allura pulling off her pack, to rifle through the contents. She found two small bottles of water, barely bigger than her hand's grip. She uncorked them, and gave one to Lotor, encouraging him to drink it. He took it from her gratefully, gulping the water down almost faster than was healthy. Allura herself drank only a little slower, the heat of the volcanoes having made her more thirsty than she had first realized.

Lotor was prepared to throw the bottle on the ground, when Allura took it from him. She put it back in her pack, wanting no sign that they had come this way. "Smart thinking." Lotor noted, looking rueful that he hadn't thought to do that himself. "But then you've always had a sharp mind."

She wondered what he knew of her intelligence, Allura allowing Lotor to hook an arm across her shoulders once more. They began to climb the hill, but their progress was even slower now. Occasionally Lotor stumbled, Allura nearly being taken down in the process as she tried to hold him up. It made her realize he was getting weaker, Lotor moving almost in a daze, as he struggled to remain alert and aware of their surroundings. That realization had her constantly glancing at him, worried and watching as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"What..." Allura hesitated, Lotor glancing at her. She knew she should try to keep him talking, if only to keep him from passing out on her. "What did you see when the Keraclon was approaching you?" It was more than just a discussion topic, she was truly curious, having noted that Lotor had fought his fear, and appeared to be more angry than scared at whatever he had seen.

"It doesn't matter..." Lotor finally said, staring forward once more. "It's dead now, and it can't hurt me, or you anymore."

"There's still more out there!" Allura reminded him. "What will you do if faced with your worse fear, and it's reflected back to you through several Keraclon at once?"

"What about you Allura?" Lotor turned the question in on her, a shrewd look in his eyes. "What did you see? What do you fear that badly?"

"I saw my father's killer." She answered, voice plain with honesty. Understanding dawned in Lotor's eyes, and he breathed out a name.

"Zarkon! You saw my father!"

"Yes." A nod of her head, now it was Allura's turn to stare straight ahead. "Is it that surprising?"

"No, I suppose it isn't." Lotor murmured. "He's not only killed your father, but enslaved your people for a time, devastated your world...He's the stuff of nightmares for many people..."

"Does it please you?" Allura asked, still refusing to look at him. "To know you and your father are so reviled, so terrifying?"

"It's good to have a reputation that induces fear." Lotor said after a moment's pause. His words seemed to be slurring, Allura's worry for his condition increasing. "It helps keep you safe..."

"Safe?" She echoed, confused. "Safe from what?"

"From the other Drule..." Came his faint answer, Lotor nearly falling to his knees. She paused then, leaning him against a boulder, then gasped to see the trail of blood that was left behind them.

"Lotor! You're bleeding!"

"Again?" he asked, and she nodded. "Damn it...no wonder I feel so weak..."

She was already searching for the source of the blood, and sure enough that troublesome wound on his waist that was the one responsible. Somehow, the blood had soaked through the gauze and bandages without either of them noticing, and even now it continued to bleed, dripping a tell tale trail on the ground.

"Take off your uniform." Ordered Allura, already slipping off her back pack. Lotor made a sound, and she realized it was a half chuckle, the prince finding amusement in what she had said.

"Never thought I'd have you so eager to undress me." He murmured and she frowned.

"Lotor, now is not the time to be making funny! You could be bleeding to death!" She set aside the pack, and grasped hold of his tunic, already trying to jerk it up. He winced as she pulled on his injured arm, and Allura let out a dismayed sound. "I'll have to cut it off..." She got out the scissors from the med kit, and began cutting down from neck collar to waist, the fabric making it difficult to slice.

The scissors would be all but ruined by the time she was done, but at least she had better access to his wound. His chest had many smaller gashes, ones that would heal on their own as long as they didn't get infected. But the wound over his stomach was nasty, and would need stitches before it would heal. She could only try to staunch the flow, Allura getting out a third bottle of water, and trying to clean the area, before using more gauze and bandages, tying it as tight as she dared around him.

"It's bad, isn't it?" Lotor asked, having spied the way she chewed on her bottom lip. She refused to meet his eyes, frightened that he might bleed to death before she could get him to a hospital. "Allura, I can tell by the look on your face..."

"You might scar..." She said at last, refusing to tell him how bad it truly was. "You won't be so perfect anymore..."

"You think me perfect?" He inquired, though he didn't smile.

She grew flustered, quick to explain. "Looks wise, I can see why women might be attracted to you. But your personality leaves much to desire..."

"Princess, you don't me well enough to know about my personality." He pointed out, his eyes falling close.

"Oh no! No going to sleep!" She had repacked the items into her back pack, and now she was tugging on his good arm. "You're going to walk with me to blue lion. You hear? You're going to walk, and survive this...and maybe, just maybe I'll give you a chance to let me get to know you better."

"I'd like that." Lotor admitted, and moved when she urged him too. She pressed against his side, both arms holding him up as he leaned on her, good arm over her shoulders. She tried to keep the worry of her face, Allura finding she wanted him to live long enough to give him that chance.

To Be Continued...!

Michelle

Dimera's Lover, thanks! And you can bet she won't make that same mistake! She'll will definitely shoot to kill in her next encounter with the Keraclons! Which should be occuring next chapter! There will be at least one more mention of Romelle later in the fic. Allura just can't resist bringing her cousin up, and throwing what Lotor did to her in his face. Hope you'll stay tuned, this story is just getting started! :D


	4. Chapter 4

The hill had evened out into a level of flat plain, the tar covered ground stretching out for miles to the North. And in the near distance was the welcome sight of blue lion, Allura's face lighting up in a relieved smile. She wanted to run forward, to cover the distance as quickly as possible, and it was the fear that was ever present on this planet that almost made her give in to that impulse. But it would have been foolish, not without surveying the area, checking to make sure those who hunted them were gone.

She leaned Lotor against an ashy stump of a tree that had burnt down, only it's roots and part of it's base remaining. He was struggling to keep conscious, watching her instead of the lion in the distance. He didn't speak to her though, as though he was too tired to form words, and that made Allura hurriedly rummage through her pack. She talked while she did it, voice a constant stream of noise, giving Lotor something to focus on.

"We're almost there Lotor...!" She said excitedly, fingers grasping hold of something metal. "We only have a little ways to go, and we'll be able to board blue lion. Why, I bet we could make it there in ten minutes time..." She pulled out the micro binoculars, adjusting the settings on it's side. "We'll go there soon, just gotta scout out the area, make sure it's safe."

She rose to stand, and faced the direction of her lion, micro binoculars being held before her eyes. The lion came into extreme focus, Allura smiling to see the familiar blue and white metal of it's hide. She scanned along it's body with the binoculars, and froze at the sight of a shadow climbing up it's right side. An adjusting of the micro binoculars' range, and the shadow showed the red skin, and dark, ragged clothing of a Keraclon.

The alien menace was drawing itself up onto the head of blue lion, it's many claws scrabbling for purchase. It found it easy enough, tearing strips of the paint off the roof in the process. And then when the Keraclon was settled into place, it began using it's claws to try and pry open the roof hatch of her lion's entrance.

"What is it?" Lotor had noticed her tension, and it worried him enough to speak. She didn't look at him, Allura pulling back the view to gaze at the ground around the lion. There was two more of the Keraclon there, and they prowled about the lion's paws, poking and prodding at various spots on the ship. "What's wrong..."

Wordlessly, she handed him the micro binoculars, and heard Lotor curse when he saw the Keraclons. "Now what do we do?" Allura asked out loud, and Lotor sighed.

"Not much else we can do but fight."

"Fight?" Startled, she turned to him, Allura looking at the pitiful sight Lotor made in the moment. He was hunched over, hand resting on the bandages of his stomach's wound. His uniform was sliced open, showing off the fine lines of his chest that were now marred with many cuts and scrapes. His face was dirty with soot, and his once pristine hair was now streaked with ash and blood. "You're in no condition to be much of a threat..."

"Don't you think I know that?" Lotor demanded angrily. "But I am a Drule Warrior. We do not go down without a fight. It would bring shame to me, to allow them to capture me without causing them difficulty."

"Yes, I'm sure there's a lot of pride in bleeding all over the enemy." Allura retorted, and he growled. "Lotor no...you have to stay here. I'LL deal with them."

"You?" Lotor looked shocked at the very thought. "What can you do?"

"I'm capable of more than you think!" Allura retorted, flushing at his disbelieving look. "I am! I've been training!"

"Ah yes...your training..." He didn't sound reassured, giving a shake of his head no. "Allura really, do you honestly believe you can take on THREE Keraclon by yourself?"

"I won't know until I try." She said determinedly, earning a displeased frown from Lotor.

"I admire your resolve, but think! If you go down there now, at best you'll only be captured..."

"If I don't go down and fight, you'll BLEED to death. Do you want that?" Allura demanded.

"No but..."

"But what?" She asked, and she swore his look was a flustered one.

"I don't want you to be hurt..." Came Lotor's admittance, and she stared at him. He shifted, uncomfortable with the look she was giving him. "What? Is it that hard to believe?"

"Well...yes...especially after all the times you've tried to blow up Voltron with me in it!" Allura exclaimed, and Lotor grew even more uncomfortable.

"You never noticed all the times I held back in battle...all the times I could have won, if not for my concern for you...:"

"You have a funny way of showing that concern." muttered Allura, and he growled.

"Allura, we are at war! It's hard enough to get close to you, the best I can do to show you that I care, is to make sure my men don't focus their attacks on you."

"I don't need your protection." She retorted, though Allura knew that she hadn't been that good a fighter to be able to survive against attacks from determined Drule warriors. Especially over and over again! She was almost touched by his confession, and now she could see how apparent it had been that the Drule never focused too long on the weakest link of the Voltron Force.

"You have it all the same." Lotor told her, tone and expression earnest.

"That's...almost sweet of you, Lotor." She told him. "And now I am going to extend that same sentiment to you. I will protect you. On my honor as princess of Arus, I will get you off this planet, and to a doctor."

For an instant his expression softened, but then he grimaced. "I'm a fool if I allow you to attempt this..."

"You're a fool if you think you allow me to do anything!" retorted Allura, hands on her hips. Lotor opened his mouth to retort, and she was suddenly there, pressing a finger to his lips. "No, don't waste your breath arguing with me. My mind is made up."

"And what am I supposed to do while you're off risking your neck?" Lotor demanded, and she cast a worried glance at his bandaged waist.

"Just try to keep from bleeding all over the place." Allura advised, the fear too real for her to smile just then. Lotor grumbled in response, Allura moving to step back from him. She didn't move fast enough, Lotor suddenly snagging her waist with his good hand. Before Allura could do more than gasp out a protest, he hauled her against him, and it was only the thought that her struggles might loosen his bandages that she held herself still.

"Lotor, what are you doing?" She demanded, just before he kissed her. There had been few times in Allura's life where she had been kissed, and none could compare to the thorough way Lotor had at her mouth. She was completely unprepared for the probing surge of his tongue, that velvet muscle as insidious as the Drule, curling and caressing against her own.

Allura made ineffectual squeaks against his mouth, knowing she could pull away but not without a fight. A fight Lotor was all too prepared to engage in, the man calling on some hidden reserves of strength to kiss her soundly. Her fingers curled around the empty air, she was close to flailing her arms anyway when he let her go, Allura taking a stumbling step backwards that nearly toppled her down to the ground.

Lotor looked as smug as he looked tired, staring at her. Her fingers flew up to her mouth, but she stopped herself from touching her still warm lips. Instead she blinked repeatedly at him, before growling out a question. "What the hell was that for?"

"If we're going to die.." Lotor began, looking as though he had no doubts about the outcome of her impending duel with the Keraclon. "Then I don't want to leave this mortal coil without knowing your kiss."

"You..." She sputtered, trying to gather her wits about her. "You overbearing thief! We are not going to die! You didn't have to do that!"

"You better pray the Keraclon grant us a quick death Allura." Lotor's words had her anger lessen slightly, a chill going through her at the knowing look in his eyes. She didn't have to imagine the kind of things he must be thinking, the Keraclon known for their wicked and cruel hospitality.

"I pray for many things." Allura told him, already picking her way along the tar strewn path that led in the direction of her lion. "Death is never one of them."

Lotor didn't have an answer for her to that, but she could feel the weight of his gaze on her back, watching as she walked away from him. They were still far enough

away from blue lion, that to the Keraclon they would seem like mere specks on the hill, just one more part of the scenery. She knew she couldn't rely on them to think that indefinitely, and Allura began to look around for large boulders and trees to hide against.

As she walked, Allura drew her blaster, adjusting it's setting from stun to kill. She would not make the same mistake like last time, this time she came to kill. It was a daunting thought to know her purpose in initiating this encounter was to kill, even if it meant her and Lotor's survival. She kept her finger on the trigger of her blaster, hand gripping it so as to be ready to fire off a quick shot. Allura was so jumpy, that if a stray animal had wandered into her path, she might have fired on it. Fortunately for all, the Keraclon's waves of fear kept all native creatures away from this segment of land.

The fear was strong in her, amplified by Lotor adamant thought that she would fail against the Keraclon. If she didn't constantly fight against the fears and uncertainties trying to fester in her stomach, Allura would have turned back towards Lotor. She didn't know what they would have done, where they could have gone, but at least for a brief moment they'd be safe from the Keraclon around her lion.

Without Lotor slowing her down, it only took about five minutes to cover the distance to the lion. The Keraclon weren't alerted to her approach, too focused on trying to get the lion open. Allura debated on what to do, her fears overcoming her, seeing what looked like three Zarkons before her. Her hands shook, and sweat pooled on her lower back, Allura taking a deep breath as she hid herself behind a large boulder.

It wasn't in Allura to just open fire on an unsuspecting enemy, to so ruthlessly cut down her opponent. She opened her mouth to speak, and found her voice came out a hoarse whisper. "Hey!" Soft though her voice was, it drew the Keraclon's attention, one of the Zarkon's hissing at her.

"Back away from the lion, and I'll leave you be!" Allura told them, even as she knew it was futile to try and negotiate with the aliens.

Another hissed out sound, more snarl than anything else, one of the Zarkon's stepping in her direction. Allura leveled her blaster to aim at the Keraclon's chest, and it was then that she was hit with a potent wave of fear. She moaned in helpless fear, and it was an involuntary action on her part, that her finger squeezed the trigger, firing off a laser blast.

Stunned silence seemed to follow that shot, the image of Zarkon wavering, revealing the Keraclon with a smoking crater for a chest. It stared not at it's wound, but at her, and even with it's alien eyes, it's shock was apparent.

The body began to fall over backwards, and the second Zarkon moved, sharp tipped projectiles seeming to come out of his clothing. She threw herself flat to the ground, a spike just missing impaling her arm, Allura wide eyed and swearing. Those things really could fire off their spikes after all, another wave coming her way, forcing her to roll frantically to avoid them.

The spikes hit the ground, embedding themselves deep into the tar. She continued to roll, getting onto her knees and took aim, firing off blast after blast at it. One laser smashed a coming projectile into a dozen pieces, Allura throwing up her left arm to shield her eyes. She kept on firing, hitting the moving Keraclon in the arm, watching as Zarkon's image flickered long enough for her to see the true image beneath it. She had hurt the Keraclon, it's arm hanging limply at it's side though it was still moving. Allura grit her teeth, also on the move, and knowing between both their movements, it was making it more difficult for her to land a killing blow.

Sound from behind her, the third Keraclon leaping off of the head of blue lion. She was already turning, firing off her blaster repeatedly. This close to the Keraclon, it didn't matter where she hit, each blast burning open chunks of flesh, green blood splattering everywhere. She screamed as she fired, the blood covering the front of her pilot's uniform. The Keraclon fell forward, and Allura just barely missed getting pinned under it, the princess turning to try and track the third one.

She saw the surprising image of Zarkon running away, but she didn't relax. Not when she saw he was heading the way she had come, and bound to run into Lotor. She screamed at the Keraclon, running after him, noticing she could breath a bit easier now that some of the fear had let up. She didn't dare hope this was the only Keraclon still remaining on this section of the planet, Allura in hot pursuit.

The Keraclon was almost to Lotor, when Allura caught a lucky break. The prince had his sword drawn, ready to defend himself from the approaching threat. The Keraclon did not slow, Zarkon's image lashing out with claws, ready to slice open Lotor even further. Allura's blast caught the Keraclon in the back, and still it tried to attack Lotor, the prince stabbing his sword into the creature's stomach.

Between Lotor and Allura, they had managed to kill the final Keraclon, the prince wearing a stunned expression. "You did it!" He exclaimed, his eyes on the green blood on her uniform.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Allura tried for a breezy tone, but suddenly she was gagging, feeling ill at all the killing she had done. She turned her back to Lotor, and quickly vomited up the remains of the most recent meal she had eaten. She heard a rustle of movement behind her, and feared it was the Keraclon, somehow still alive.

It turned out to be Lotor, the prince laying a hand on her back, rubbing her in an attempt to be comforting while she was ill. Allura was mortified to have him see her like this, and she gagged one last time, though it was a dry heave. She brought her hand to her mouth, using the back of her glove to wipe it clean.

"You did good." Lotor said, and she looked at him, surprised by the praise. "I'm proud of you."

"There's nothing to be proud of when it comes to killing." She retorted, and he frowned.

"Not even when it saves lives?" That earned a hesitation from Allura, the princess not sure how to answer that. She paused long enough that Lotor sighed. "Never mind." He said, already maneuvering it so that his arm went across her shoulders. "Let's just get to your lion, and get out of here!" Allura could only agree, knowing it was the best idea Lotor had ever had.

To Be Continued...!

Michelle

Christine, the Dark Rose Maiden, ah you're right. That wouldn't work against the Keraclon! XD I have to keep quiet about the what Lotor saw, cause that would be a major spoiler for an event that happens in like...chapter seventeen. :O And yes, I agree they do make a good team, though in this story, it will soon become apparent that they don't get along so well when danger is not immanent.

Ha ha, yes! Lotor is very arrogant, and as you'll soon see, he can be very selfish too. WHich may cost him big time. (Spoiler avodance!) I think in this story his one good part is his love and concern for Allura. He'll certainly try everyone's patience soon enough! You'll see what I mean in six...and for 19 something will happen that humbles him big time, and will hopefully allow him to be less of an ass. And thank you so much!

Almighty Tallest Angie, yes she is! Lotor's probably enjoying the attention to!

DimerasLover, thank you! Yes, they have a...well tenous relationship as best. I'm giggling cause it's so hard not to spoil everything here and now. Lotor's going to get on Allura's nerves soon enough too! What Lotor saw is a major secret! But it would have to be pretty bad...I have Go Lion on DVD but I haven't watched too much of it. Only like Lotor's first eps right up to Romelle's first ep. Never had the time. I think MErla was an original character they created for the American created second season. I've never heard of her being in any other show!

KMS5665, I know right! Glad you picked up on what that scene was a referance to! I totally had the bridge episode in mind...though it never made sense why he tripped over that damn rock! XD


	5. Chapter 5

They were fortunate the Keraclon hadn't managed to do any lasting damage to blue lion, the outside fine save for a few dents, and the paint that had peeled from the alien's insistent clawing at the hatch. There was similar claw marks on one of blue lion's paws, the Keraclon trying to get at the missiles the rested in the nails of the lion's feet. The third had tried to wrench open the emergency control panel, as if hoping it would find the correct sequence to unlock the lion.

Allura felt smug to know that they would have failed in that last endeavor, the sequence to unlock the lion a complex series of numbers and symbols. They were all but impossible to guess upon in random, and Coran often saw to changing the codes every few weeks.

Allura didn't need to enter in the unlocking sequence, the lion's eyes gleaming in recognition of the key that was fastened to the breast of her pilot's uniform. Some sort of internal magic was infused inside the ancient machinery, and at Allura's approach, the lion had unlock it's hatch. She had then had the difficult task of getting Lotor into the lion, Allura leaving him resting on the ground as she climbed to the top of the lion.

In the end she had lowered the lion so that it was all but laying on the ground, head between it's paws. It made a difficult situation easier, Allura finding a rope, and having Lotor grip it with his good hand, as she attempted to half pull him up. She knew the Drule was big, but never had she imagined Lotor weighed so much, the prince forced to help her by ignoring the pain in his injured foot, and scrambling upwards.

Eventually she had him settled inside the cock pit of her lion, Lotor leaning against the crates that contained a week's amount of provisions. There was no extra seating for him to sit upon, the only chair being the padded seat for the pilot. Allura felt bad to leave him unsecured, but there was no way she could allow him to sit in the pilot's seat, even if he hadn't been wounded. She didn't trust him, certainly not with one of the lions of Voltron, and if Lotor hadn't been so injured, she would have felt far too inadequate to handle him and the situation they were in.

Allura could just imagine the kind of shenanigans Lotor would pull if his injuries were only a little less severe, the girl blushing as she remembered the kiss he had forced on her before she went off to face the Keraclon. She wondered how much worse the kiss would have been if he had had more energy to expand, Allura remember the grip on her waist, and the firm, harshness of his lips.

_~I shouldn't be thinking about this!~_ Allura thought furiously to herself, giving a shake of her hair. The kiss was over and done with, and if she was lucky, she'd need never suffer another one from Lotor. She fought to keep from glancing over her shoulder at him, Lotor oddly quiet as he studied the inside of the lion's cockpit. She stifled a feeling of unease, knowing he was most likely memorizing all the details, either to better his future attacks, or to share the knowledge with the Drule scientists.

Such a thought made her loathe to start up the lion, Allura not wanting to give Lotor too much information to use against the Voltron Force. She was only calmed by the thought that even if he took note of the buttons she pushed and levers she pulled, Lotor would still require the special key that fit each lion. It was with a minimal of grumbling that she started the lion, the key in it's special place, and the control panel lighting up, demanding her attention.

Her fingers were splayed on the control panel, buttons being pushed in a rapid fire manner. The lion let out a challenging roar, as if it too was eager to leave this Keraclon infested planet behind. The lion's paws pounded into the ground, and then it was gearing back, resting it's weight on it's haunches. An instant later it leapt towards the sky, the jets on the bottom of it's paws, propelling it higher and higher.

She maneuvered it around the ash shooting volcanoes, flying higher in the air, and heading for the stars that she could barely see in the midday sky. Clouds streamed around them, and the higher they got, the fear that had been a tight knot in her stomach began to leave her, trickling away until she was almost relaxed in her chair.

Relaxed if not for her guest in the rear of her lion, Allura well aware of Lotor, of his breathing and the ashy smell that clung to his skin. He still wasn't saying anything, but she didn't think he had passed out, Allura hearing Lotor rustling through her med kit. A glance over her shoulder showed he was using some of the spare water taken from her back pack, to try and clean up some of the blood on his hands and face.

He noticed her looking, and gave her a weak smile. "I'm fine." He didn't sound reassuring, Lotor touching the bandages around his waist. "They're holding...I may just last long enough to get to a doctor."

"I pray that you are right." Allura murmured, and attempted to turn back to the control panel. But his voice stopped her, a question in it, as he lifted one eyebrow.

"You pray? For me?" His smile remained, Lotor looking almost pleased.

"Yes, Lotor. Even for you." She said with a sigh. "I wouldn't want you to die after all the trouble I went through to save you..."

"How...touching." Lotor said, seeming to deflate. She turned her back to him, rolling her eyes. He couldn't seriously think she had meant it with any real feeling for him. He was her enemy after all, no matter how often he bothered her to marry him, or forced an unwanted kiss on her. She didn't, wouldn't think of him as anything more than the prince who helped to lead the invading army against her people.

She was showing him more kindness than he merited, Allura sighing as she began typing in a query to her ship's computer. "What are you doing?" Lotor asked, curious as the computer began beeping.

"Trying to locate the nearest medical facility." Allura murmured, distracted by what the computer was showing her. The results weren't promising, this area of the galaxy improvised, many of the planets unable to support life. It was begginning to look like they would have to journey quite a distance to find a doctor for Lotor, Allura unwilling to risk landing on a different part of the planet they had just left.

"Here...go to these coordinates." Lotor said, rattling off a few numbers. Allura began to enter them into the computer, curious as to where he would direct her.

"It's not showing up on the computer's map." She noted out loud with a frown.

"You won't find this place on any Alliance map." Lotor answered, and it was an odd enough phrase to get her to turn to him, a suspicious look in her eyes.

"Lotor, just where are you trying to get me to go?" Silence followed, Allura continuing to stare, the Drule Prince holding her gaze with a steady one of his own.

"What does it matter?" He asked at last. "There will be a doctor waiting there for us. Along with fresh clothing and a bath." A pointed look at her blood splattered uniform, Lotor trying to tempt her into forgetting her suspicion.

"And why would a doctor be waiting out in the middle of nowhere?" Allura demanded, refusing to drop the topic. He sighed then, and muttered something, Allura's

brow rising in confusion. "I'm sorry. I didn't quite get that. Did you just say something about it being a military outpost?"

He nodded then. "It's one of Doom's."

"Oh no! You must have hit your head harder than we realized if you think I am going to just blithely waltz into a Drule military outpost!" Allura exclaimed.

"You can't expect to take me to an Alliance doctor." Lotor retorted, but she nodded her head. "Allura, they'll arrest me on sight!"

"It's nothing less than you deserve." She told him, almost but not quite smirking.

"I will not submit to this!" Lotor hissed. "

"You don't have a choice!" Allura retorted. "You're my prisoner, to do with as I see fit. And I'll be damned if I let you bleed to death OR continue your reign of terror on the Denubian Galaxy."

He suddenly started laughing at that, earning a frown from Allura. "What's so funny?" She demanded, and he seemed to shake with his amusement.

"You."

"Me?" She squeaked in disbelief as he nodded.

"Yes. You really think you're capable of subduing a Drule warrior?" Lotor asked, and she glared at him.

"I may not be very strong, but in your current condition it won't take a lot of strength to haul you in to an Alliance prison!" She then turned her back to him, determined to concentrate on flying the lion. It was a mistake, she heard the tell tale hum of lazon unsheathed, Allura freezing in place.

"Allura...you're going to fly us to the coordinates I gave you." His tone was pleasant, as if Lotor wasn't currently holding his sword up in a threat.

"And what if I refuse?" Allura asked, slowly turning to face him. "What then?" She saw that he had stood up, Lotor slowly walking towards her on shaky feet. The sword gleamed dangerous intent, even with Lotor in his battered state.

"I'm sure I can find a way to be persuasive." Lotor told her, and she shook her head.

"So that's it then? You're going to try and make me your prisoner? After all I've done for you?"

"I don't want to Allura, but you leave me no choice!" Lotor snapped. "I will not be arrested. I told you. A Drule Warrior doesn't go down without a fight."

"Neither does an Arusian Princess!" She retorted, her finger pressing a button on the control panel. The lion suddenly did a hard right, causing them both to lose balance. Allura stayed seated, her seat belt holding her in place, but Lotor had no such securement. He tipped over backwards, eyes startled as he slammed into the floor, a loud cry of pain escaping him.

The sword clattered on the floor, Allura scrambling to undo the seat belt and grab it. By the time Lotor sat up, his movements slow and clearly pain filled, she had the sword's tip against his throat. She actually smiled at him, though it wasn't a pleasant filled expression. "Lotor..." Her tone was almost sickeningly sweet, her sword arm and gaze never wavering from him. "You're going to reach into that box behind you to the left. There should be a pair of handcuffs in there."

He didn't ask what she needed them for, the prince glaring at her. "And what if I refuse?"

"Well..." She pretended to think about it, resting her free hand on her holstered blaster. "I may just have to shoot you into unconsciousness then." He tensed, and she barked out an order. "Lotor don't! Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be..."

A staring contest was held, and for the longest time she honestly thought the Drule would make her shoot him. But at last he sighed, and inched away from the

sword at his throat. He grumbled under his breath as he moved, muttering about stubborn princesses who had gotten too big for their boots. But he found the cuffs, and reluctantly snapped them onto his wrists.

She relaxed once his hands were bound, Allura switching off the sword, and stepping back to her chair. She placed the deactivated sword across the top of the control panel, well out of Lotor's reach, and resumed her query to find the nearest alliance medical facility. Allura tried to be cheerful as she spoke, really not wanting Lotor to die after all she had gone through to keep him alive.

"We're in luck Lotor. The nearest hospital is about two hundred fifty light years away. If we enter hyper space, we can make that in an hour's time."

"Wonderful." He said, tone sour.

"Don't be so down." She told him, beginning the sequence to enter hyper drive. "I'm sure the Alliance prisons are magnificent compared to Doom's dungeons."

"It's still a cage, no matter how nice a prison it is." Lotor retorted. A pause followed his words, Allura unsure what to say to that. "You do realize my father won't negotiate for my release? If anything this will make him nastier, as he unleashes attack after attack in retribution for this ill treatment of his only heir."

"I suppose that's his prerogative." Allura murmured, noting four ships were poised to come out of hyperspace. She tensed, fearing it was reinforcements from the Keraclon, barely paying attention to Lotor's growls. "But Lotor, you could make things a lot easier on yourself if you gave up some of your empire's secrets."

"Turn traitor to Doom?" He sneered then. 'I'd rather die than betray my people!"

"Fortunately for you, the Alliance rarely believes in using such extreme punishments." Allura retorted, making sure the lions' weapons were online and ready to be used. She already had the missiles poised to fire on the emerging ships, the auxiliary lasers locking onto the spot where the ships would arrive.

It was fortunate for everyone that she wasn't as trigger happy a she had been when facing the Keraclon, Allura seeing the welcome sight of the four lions of Arus appear to the right of her. Lotor grumbled something under his breath, his agitation increasing, but she ignored him, already signaling a hello to the lions. The lions let out welcoming roars, and the airwaves were immediately filled with the concerned voices of her team mates.

"Princess, thank goodness you're all right!" Keith exclaimed, and the others echoed his sentiment. "We've been so worried."

"Yeah!" nodded Pidge. "Nanny and Coran too."

Lance chuckled then. "The old girl just about had a heart attack when she heard you deviated from the path Pidge mapped out for you."

"I'm sorry...but time was of the essence..." Allura began, and Hunk waved off her apologies.

"It's all right princess." He said. "We know you had to do the right thing, and go help the person in distress...Who was it by the way?"

A hesitation from Allura, the princess fighting the urge to glance back at her prisoner. "Um..."

"Well, Allura..." Lotor's bored tone, the prince insinuating himself into the conversation. "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

"LOTOR!"

"What's he doing there?"

"How could you let him into your lion?" demanded Hunk, aghast.

"Calm down, I can explain!" Allura quickly said, but her team mates continued to talk, excitement and agitation in their voices. "Listen to me!" Allura hissed, fighting the urge to slam her fists on the control panel of her lion. "We don't have time for such nonsense! The Keraclon could be coming."

The name of that threatening alien species caught the boys' attention, their voices quieting down. She felt an odd sense of satisfaction to regain their attention, Allura leaning back wearily in her seat.

"The Keraclon?" Keith stared at her. "What do they have to do with this?"

Pidge was leaning forward, fingers adjusting his glasses. He gasped out a question, and then another. "Is that...their blood on you, princess? Did you have to fight them?"

She nodded. "I had to fight and kill them, but there's really no time. They could be tracking us, they're after Lotor..."

"What did that bastard do to get their attention?" Lance wanted to know, and it was Lotor who answered.

"This bastard, as you so kindly put it, did nothing. I am merely a victim of who I am, that the Keraclon chose to mess with me."

"I don't believe it!" Lance snapped, and Allura had to agree. "You had to do something."

"Allura, we don't have time for this." Lotor said, ignoring Lance. "We have to get you and the lions out of here. I don't give a damn about the other pilots, but we can't allow the Keraclon to capture Voltron!"

"Of course you don't want them to get Voltron. You want it for yourself!" Keith hissed, and Lotor snarled.

"We can debate what I want another time, but not here. Not so close to the Keraclon."

"He's right Keith." Allura spoke up. "I don't know how many are left...But there was enough fear on that planet to keep away all the animals, even the scavengers and predators. It was almost more than I could stand, and I do not want a repeat encounter with them."

"Fine." Keith said through gritted teeth. "But don't get any funny ideas Lotor. You're our prisoner now..."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Lotor was calm, a direct contrast to Keith's anger. Allura cast a glance back at Lotor, seeing him leaning tiredly against the crates. He met her gaze, but otherwise did not acknowledge her, seeming to pout over the situation he found himself in.

"Lotor's injured." Allura announced, her fingers moving rapidly over the buttons of her computer. "I've found an Alliance facility close by. I'm sending you the coordinates so you can meet us there."

Grumbled out complaints from her team mates, the boys not wanting to see to the prince's well being. Allura had to remind them that enemy or not, it was their duty to help those in trouble. That seemed to quiet them down, the boys shamed by the reminder.

They maintained radio contact, even as they slipped into hyper drive, Keith wanting to monitor what was going on inside Allura's lion. She sighed, thinking the captain still did not have much faith in her abilities if he thought she couldn't handle a handcuffed and injured Prince Lotor. Even her teammates questions about what had happened with the Keraclon couldn't distract Allura from her sudden depression, the princess wishing Keith would think better of her skills.

They did not encounter any more Keraclon as they traveled through hyper space, Allura feeling relived. Lotor ignored her, and she assumed he was too angry about the situation to deign to speak to her. But when she turned to glance his way, she saw he was watching her, an odd smirk on his lips. It left a bad feeling in her stomach, Allura wondering if it would really be as easy as it seemed to arrest him.

To Be Continued!

Michelle

DimerasLove, oh I am laughing here over you calling her Queen Pinky! XD AH, see Go Lion only had the episodes that were released on the DVD sets. But VOltron proved so popular here in America, that they made several more episodes to keep the show going. And thus Merla and Cossack were created. As for my story, thank you! Hope you enjoyed this chapter too. I really liked the part where Allura gets the drop on Lotor in this one! Makes me crack up every time I think of it! And I love how you put his mental state of mind, all Tarzen like or caveman like! XD

Lotor SIncline, thank you! It doesn't matter, better late than never says I! And I do appreciate your words! Lotor will continue to be a smart ass, and selfish too! You'll see why at the end of chapter six!

Christine, the Dark Rose Maiden, Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the action sequence! It's amazing what fear let her accomplish, taking on those three scary ones by herself!


	6. Chapter 6

There had been time to radio ahead to the Alliance facility, Allura letting them know the urgency of the situation as well as prepare them for just who their patient would be. By the time the Voltron Force had landed the lions outside the hospital grounds, an emergency vehicle had pulled up besides blue lion, humans scrambling out of it. They would help to ease Lotor out of the lion, the prince sluggish and barely conscious by this point. It made it much easier for them to transport him inside the hospital, the humans strapping him to a stretcher.

It wasn't just Lotor who the humans insisted on treating, Allura finding herself ushered into an empty room. A doctor looked her over, questioning her, his nurse tending to Allura's few scrapes and bruises. There was no doubt that the blood on her uniform was not her own, the color such a stark green. She had only minor cuts and tears, Allura not even remembering the moments when she had gotten those little injuries.

She had been impatient for them to finish checking her over, Allura eager for the bath they had promised her. She luxuriated under the spray of water, thoroughly washing herself down, ridding herself of the ashy smell that clung to her, and the sickly sweet smell of the Keraclon's dried blood.

She had a spare uniform onboard her lion, and it was that that she slipped into, Allura vowing to burn the old one. The doctors had expressed some interest in the blood on her ruined uniform, even going so far as to scrap off some of the blood to do some sort of testing on it. Allura didn't know what they hoped to find, but they were welcome to it.

By the time she finished showering, a hot meal was waiting for her in the facility's commissary. Her team mates were present, each having a tray of their own as they commandeered one of the long tables in the room. The others in the commissary, the medical staff and soldiers, kept a respectful distance from the Voltron Force, letting them eat in peace.

"I bet it feels good to get that blood off you." Hunk said warmly, as Allura sat down next to him. She nodded, picking up her fork, and using it to explore the various foods on her tray.

"Just what went on while you were on that planet?" Keith asked, and the others piped in.

"Yeah! I wanna know how you fought off the Keraclon!" Pidge said, eager and admiring in the moment. The young boy at least appreciated her abilities, not acting anywhere as shocked as Keith and Lance acted.

"Forget about the Keraclon." dismissed Lance. "I want to know what happened between you and Lotor." Somehow Allura managed to remain blank faced, scooping up some sort of orange mush on her fork. "You two were alone for hours!" Added Lance. "He had to have tried something!"

Allura wasn't about to admit they had kissed, the girl calmly eating the sweet tasting mush. "There wasn't any time for his foolishness." She said at last, and this time she scooped up some yellow square bits that were slightly bitter to taste. "We were in a life or death situation..."

"Life or death situations make for the best times!" Lance told her. "Especially between a man and a woman. They can't help but get close..."

"Allura would...would never lower herself to foster a friendship with Lotor!" Keith sounded angry at the very thought.

"Hey, I would have thought that too. But she did save the jerk's life." Lance pointed out.

"That was pure chance, I assure you." Allura said. "I didn't know it was Lotor who was behind that distress signal."

"If you did, would you still have gone?" Lance wanted to know, the table growing quiet as everyone stared at her. Allura shifted, uncomfortable with both the question and the looks.

"I'd like to think I'd do the right thing..." She said at last, spearing her fork into a piece of meat. It's juices dribbled out at the point of entry, Allura staring down at it. "That I wouldn't let the fact that he's my enemy stop me from coming to his rescue..."

"But you're uncertain, aren't you?" Hunk questioned, and she sighed.

"Yes." She continued to stare at her tray, troubled by the memory of how she had almost left Lotor behind when she first discovered him on that planet. "I'm ashamed to admit this...but I almost left him there..." She risked a glance up, seeing sympathetic faces looking at her. "Almost left him to die or suffer worse at the Keraclon's hands."

"But you didn't." Hunk pointed out, patting her hand. "And that's all that matters."

"No one here would blame you if you had left Lotor there." Added Keith, giving Allura the feeling he wouldn't have struggled over what to do.

"It'd be one less Drule to worry about." Added Lance, and Allura stared at him shock.

"There's always more where he came from." A venomous comment from Keith, the captain angry. "I swear they're like insects. You stamp one out, and ten more rise to take their place."

"Keith!"

"It's true princess..." He insisted, not apologetic at all. She frowned at him, unsure of what to say to such blatant hatred. "Zarkon always has someone waiting in the wings, ready to replace those that failed him."

She was still frowning, when Hunk took it upon himself to try and steer the conversation to a somewhat safer topic. "So...the Keraclon. What was it like, fighting them?"

"Terrifying!" Allura exclaimed, and a nervous chuckled followed her words. "I never felt such fear in my life, it was all consuming, nearly choking me with it. In practice I knew what the Keraclon are capable of, but it's a whole other story to experience that fear for yourself."

"How many do you think there were on that planet?" Pidge wanted to know, and she shrugged.

"No way to know. But there had to be more than the four Lotor and I killed, to account for the amount of fear blanketing such a large area." She sighed then. "It was so frightening, to know that at any moment you'd hear their claws, signaling their nearness." Allura shook her head. "It was only sheer desperation, the need to survive that let me continue, let me face them. It's something I never want to have to do again if I can avoid it!"

"Well, hopefully they'll stay well away from Arus." Lance said, and everyone at the table gave him a doubting look. "What?"

"You know better Lance." Keith tsked, his tone chiding. "The Keraclon may be taking their time, but they are moving through the galaxy, slowly but surely leaving devastation in their wake."

"But there is no guarantee they'll ever reach Arus!" Lance persisted, even as Allura shivered at the thought. She hated to think of the Keraclon coming to Arus, those parasites draining the world dry of it's resources, but not before they killed off all the inhabitants first. They were worse than the Drules, the Keraclon having little use for slaves. At least the Drules kept most of a planet's populace alive, but the Keraclon preferred to move in and lethally evict the current dwellers' of a world.

So far, a handful of worlds had been destroyed by the Keraclon, planets that had housed once glorious civilizations. Not even their ruins remained behind, the Keraclon having decimated everything to rubble before moving in the mine the planet of it's resources. Allura despaired to think of Arus and her people suffering a similar fate, the fertile green lands turning brown and barren, it's oceans drying up.

"What cha got there little buddy?" Hunk's voice drew Allura out of her thoughts, the girl glancing at the pilot of green lion. She saw that Pidge had pulled out a data pad, and was rapidly typing in numbers.

"Just trying to figure out how long it will take the Keraclon to come to Arus at their current rate of progression." Murmured Pidge.

"It might not even be in our lifetimes." Keith noted. "It takes time for them to completely use up a planet."

"Just because we won't be alive to see it happen, doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned!" Allura snapped. "I do not want my children, or grand children having to live in fear of the Keraclon's attack."

"But what can we do?" Hunk asked. "It's not as though anyone has found a way to stop them...Not with their fear based powers..."

Allura sighed then, thinking Hunk was right. There was no way to keep the fear from filling them, so long as the Keraclon lived and breathed. Not even being inside the relative safety of a ship, could protect one from the Keraclon's waves of fear. Ship battles were disastrous, the people on board the vessels, panicking, suffering their own fears and doubts. They turned on each other, and some even killed themselves, all to escape the all consuming fear that the Keraclon forced on them.

There was rumors that onboard the Keraclon ships, the most talented of their telepaths gathered. It was there, inside a special chamber that they worked together, transmitting the fear to blanket the battlefield. The metal hides of the ships made no difference, the fear emitted through it. Alliance and Drule scientists alike would love to get a hold of a live Keraclon specimen, all in order to better understand the enemy they were up against.

The problem was the fear even a single Keraclon was capable of inducing. If only there was a way to neutralize it, so that the scientists could study a Keraclon's brain. Perhaps then they'd be able to come up with a counter measure against the fear.

"Still, I think it's amazing!" Pidge announced, still fiddling with his calculations on the data pad. "You were able to face the fear and fight!"

"If only you could have seen how frightened I was!" Allura exclaimed. "I'm sure everyone could hear the knocking of my knees from miles away!"

"It doesn't matter how scared you were." Lance assured her. "Just that you managed to kill what terrified you."

"I'll still have nightmares for weeks, if not months." Allura murmured, remembering how the one Keraclon had looked with the hole in it's chest. Strings of flesh had dangled over that cavernous opening, and she had been able to see bits of muscles and bone, and the frantic pumping of it's dying heart.

"We're not helping, are we?" Hunk asked, and she glanced at him. "Making you talk about it, making you think."

"No...I think talking helps. Although the memories I could do without." Allura admitted with a shudder.

"I got it!" Pidge exclaimed, staring at his data pad. "At the rate the Keraclon is going, Arus will be targeted within the next fifty years."

"Fifty years?" All of the Voltron Force exclaimed as one.

"That's way too soon!" protested Lance.

"My calculations are almost never wrong." Pidge said, a hint of pride in his voice. "And there's a noticeable increase in how fast the Keraclon are using up planets. At this rate, it won't be long before they are wasting away worlds within six months time. They'll have to keep on moving, and if they're not stopped, all of the Denubian Galaxy will be wiped out in about three hundred years time!"

Stunned silence followed his words, each member of the Voltron Force trying to process what Pidge had said. The minutes dragged on, no one seeming capable of speech, not even when a nurse approached their table. Such was the distress of the Voltron force, that not even Lance took notice of the pretty female, a stunned look in his eyes.

The nurse seemed to note the tension that surrounded Allura and her team mates, and she coughed politely to get their attention. "Forgive me for intruding."

"Yes?" Allura said, forcing herself to focus on the nurse.

"That...man you brought with you..."

"What about Lotor?" demanded Keith, suddenly hostile.

"He's requesting an audience with the princess." Explained the nervous nurse.

"With Allura?" Hunk said, even as Ketih shook his head, angrily issuing a retort to the nurse.

"He can request all he wants, he's not going to get it!"

"Keith...that should be up to ME to decide." Allura reprimanded had him look startled, dark eyes glancing her way.

"But princess..."

"But nothing!" interrupted Allura, and turned back to the nurse. "How is he?"

"He's doing much better." Said the nurse. "We were fortunate to have his blood type on tap. He's much refreshed now that we finished the transfusions, and the wound on his stomach has been sewn up. It'll probably leave a scar, but...at least he'll live."

"Not that he's very grateful about any of this." Muttered Keith.

"You don't know that." Allura said, but even she had doubts about what sort of patient Lotor was being. "Please, did he say why he wanted to see me?"

"You can't seriously be considering meeting with him!" Keith sounded scandalized at the thought, shaking his head no.

"I might be, depending on what he wants to say to me." Allura told him.

"He didn't really say." The nurse was apologetic, brow furrowed in thought. "Oh! But he did say he had something to say, something urgent about the...the Keraclon."

"The Keraclon?" Allura frowned. "What?"

"You don't think he's about to spill the beans about what he did to piss those aliens off so much, do you?" wondered an excited Lance.

"I don't care what he has to say." Snapped Keith. "The princess shouldn't go meet with him."

That seemed to decide things for her, Allura rising from her seat. "I'm going."

"What? You can't be serious!" exclaimed Keith, staring at her like she had grown another head.

"I am serious. He deserves to be heard out." Allura replied. "Maybe it's nothing, maybe it's just some inconsequential thing. Maybe he just wants to plead his case on why we should let him go. But I owe him that much at least."

She was thinking of how he had so selfishly had her hide during the encounter with the first Keraclon, Lotor willing to distract it from noticing Allura. She certainly wasn't thinking about the kiss he had forced on her, which is why Allura frowned when Lance let out a gleeful exclamation.

"Something DID happen between you two on that planet!"

"Nothing happened!" Allura insisted heatedly, and gestured for the nurse to lead her to Lotor's room. Unsurprisingly, the Voltron Force all followed her, not content to let her face the Drule Prince alone. They weren't quiet either, arguing amongst themselves as they walked behind her, their loud voices announcing their presence well before they could be seen.

The nurse stopped before a guarded door, gesturing for Allura to step inside. "He's in here." She said, and let out a warning. "Do try not to upset him too badly."

"Upset him?" Keith tsked. "Who's to stop him from upsetting us?"

Allura ignored that, and opened the door, peering into the room. She spied Lotor in bed, a iv line hooked up to his uninjured arm. That arm was also handcuffed to the bed, keeping the prince firmly rooted in spot. His other arm was in a cast, a sling holding it bent against his chest. He had been given a clean night shirt, though it was ill fitting, stretching tight across his muscles.

"Ah, Allura." Lotor smiled in her direction, seeming to ignore the boys behind her. "So good of you to come."

"Don't be so familiar with the princess!" Keith ordered, following Allura into the room. He was practically the princess' shadow, Allura nearly tripping over him as she inched closer to Lotor's bed.

"You're looking good Allura." Lotor seemed to purr out her name, stressing the familiarity in which he spoke it. "It's amazing what a bath, and some hot food will do for one."

"Quit the chit chat, and just tell us why you wanted to see her!" Keith snapped, and now Lotor reacted to the captain, annoyance marring his features.

"Does he speak for you now, Allura?"

"No, he does not." Allura said, for all present to hear. "Tell me Lotor...tell me what you have to say about the Keraclon."

"Maybe I don't want an audience." Came Lotor's surprising response.

"Maybe what you have to say isn't as important as you think then." Allura countered, and he gave her a smirk.

"Oh it's important..." He tried to gesture with his handcuffed arm for her to come closer, the manacle making a clanking sound. She didn't budge, and Lotor sighed. "Honestly Allura. What do you think I am going to do? I am injured, incapacitated by this shackle, and you are backed by your friends! Do you really think me that dangerous?"

"Yes!" Came the resounding confirmation from her team mates, Allura almost smirking at that.

"Just tell me, or I'll leave." Lotor kept silent, lips a thin line of disapproval. She sighed then, and started to turn, casting one last word to him. "Fine Lotor. You had your chance."

"Allura wait!" He called out to her. "You'll be sorry if you don't hear me out."

"Is that a threat?" Keith wanted to know, and Lotor shrugged.

"Call it whatever you like." He said. "Just know, the ultimate fate of Arus, of Doom, of the entire Denubian Galaxy will be on your shoulders if you walk away from me now."

"What do you mean?" Allura ignored Keith's protests to approach Lotor, watching the secretive smile play on his lips. "What could you possibly know to effect so many?"

Lotor's gaze was steady, the prince looking deeply satisfied at the words he spoke. "It's simple really. I know how to stop the Keraclon, permanently."

To Be Continued!

Michelle

Lotor Sincline, as always thank you! And now you have the answer to how is he gonna get out of this one! He's got quite the bargaining chip he revealed at the end of six! XD

Dimeraslover, thanks! Oh yeah, Zarkon would go totally ballistic over Lotor being arrested. You're right, not so much out of fatherly concern, but more this arrogant pride thing he's got going on. I so enjoyed that scene where Lotor says a Drule warrior doesn't go down without a fight, and she retorted that neither does Arusian princess. One of my fave parts of the fic so far. :D The allliance did treat Lotor, but as you can see, with the knowledge Lotor has, he won't be their prisoner for long. Count on it! XD


	7. Chapter 7

A kind of pandemonium seemed to break out at Lotor's statement, the voices of the Voltron Force all talking at once. It was a kind of angry excitement that they showed, the boys as intrigued as they were shocked by Lotor's claim. Allura herself was quiet, staring at Lotor, wondering if what he said was true. The Drule prince continued to smirk, relaxing against the many pillows on his bed. He looked deeply satisfied by the chaos he had caused, and was waiting patiently for the Voltron Force to calm down.

"Did you hear that?" Hunk was saying, voice astonished. "He knows how to defeat the Keraclon!"

"He's probably lying!" Keith retorted. "There is no way to defeat them, not the entire race."

Pidge was shaking his head, green lion's pilot stunned. "Think of what it would do for the galaxy if we could permanently rid ourselves of the threat of the Keraclon!"

"I don't think it's possible Pidge." A doubting Lance said. "Everything Garrison has tried has failed, the telepathic waves of fear the Keraclon emit making our attacks useless, our people unable to function and fight..."

"But what if there really is a way?" Pidge asked, voice insistent. "What if Lotor really knows a way?"

"He's just bluffing." Scoffed Keith. "Even if there's a way, what are the chances that Lotor of all people would know?"

"Can we really afford not to believe him?" Hunk wondered out loud, and Lance sighed.

"No but...can we afford to trust him?" That question quieted her teammates, the Voltron Force pausing to look at a smug Lotor.

"I wouldn't trust a Drule! Not even as far as I could throw one!" Keith announced, but his words didn't take away any of Lotor's confidence.

"How very close minded of you captain. Tell me, were you always a racist, or is this a new development?" Lotor was snide as he spoke, but still smirking as he gazed at the captain of the Voltron Force.

"Racist?" Keith gasped, looking outraged. "I'm not a racist! I'm just...just being practical around a snake like you!"

"Call it whatever you like, I know the truth." Lotor retorted, Keith taking a step towards the bed. It was Allura's arm that stopped Keith from drawing any closer, the princess shaking her head no.

"Do not let him goad you, Keith." Allura told him, and Keith nodded, expression grim. She echoed that grimness, turning to meet Lotor's eyes. "Is what you say true? You really can defeat the Keraclon?"

"Why do you think they were after me?" Lotor asked, then gave a deep chuckle. "Certainly not for my winning personality."

"You probably just pissed them off." Lance muttered, snorting. "You have a natural talent for that."

"It's easy enough to do when dealing with dullards such as yourself." Lotor retorted, a murmur of anger erupting from the members of the Voltron Force. "Of course, that doesn't include you, Allura." He purred out that after thought, smiling brightly at her.

"Lotor, you didn't answer my question." Allura pointed out, and Lotor cocked his head to the side.

"I didn't?"

"No, you did not." She said firmly. "Can you really defeat them?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you do it sooner on that planet?" She demanded, and he didn't hesitate with his answer.

"I didn't have the necessary means available to me at that time. But given the proper resources, and the knowledge that I possess, I can guarantee you a way to see to the Keraclon's destruction."

"He's full of it, princess!" Keith exclaimed. "He doesn't know a thing..."

She glanced at Keith, but her expression was full of uncertainty, the princess not sure what to believe in the moment. "Why...Why didn't you say something sooner?" She asked at last, and Lotor shrugged as best he could, given his broken arm.

"You never asked, and there never seemed to be an ideal opportunity to talk about it. Especially with you intent on arresting me." He tsked then, tone chiding. "That was very foolish of you, Allura."

"It was smart and brave." Hunk insisted.

"Whatever it was, it's fortunate for me, that I did not tell you what I know." Another smirk, Lotor not trying to hide his glee. "A Drule is never so foolish as to throw away a potential bargaining chip."

"And just what is it you want?" Allura demanded, and Lotor's smirk deepened, his gaze almost lewd as he looked her over. Immediately heat flared to her cheeks, Allura shaking her head no.

"Lotor! You scum!" Keith had noticed the way the prince had looked her over, the captain making fists out of his hands.

"What?" Lotor pretended to feign confusion, making his eyes wide and innocent. "I did not say anything."

"It's obvious where your mind lays..." Keith retorted, gesturing wildly with his one fist. "Looking at the princess in that manner!"

"It's not my mind that is in the gutter right now." Lotor told him, back to smirking. Keith made a wordless sound of anger, but Lotor talked over him. "In any case, I think the first order of business is to get this handcuff off of me."

"And why would we do a thing like that?" Pidge demanded, and Lotor rolled his eyes.

"Well, it's obvious I can't stay here."

"You won't be here for much longer." Now Keith sounded smug, crossing his arms over his chest. "As soon as the doctor gives his okay, they'll be moving you to a prison facility."

"That's not going to happen." Lotor said confidently. "Not if you want me to tell you how to win against the Keraclon."

"We don't need or want your cooperation." Keith retorted. "We'll just torture the information out of you."

"Keith!" Lotor's laughter overrode Allura's shocked gasp, the prince leveling a cold stare at the captain.

"Come now, you don't really expect me to believe the Alliance and Garrison would be so cruel as to torture a captive? Especially one of my rank and position." Lotor tsked. "Even if it wouldn't be an act of aggression against the Doom Empire, the charter of the Alliance forbids any unnecessary and cruel acts against their prisoners."

"I could make a case that's it's necessary." Threatened Keith, and Lotor laughed.

"And risk ruining that squeaky clean reputation of your Garrison? I think not. No captain, torture is something that differentiates our two peoples. You humans are far too squeamish to purposefully harm a man, no matter the reason."

"It's not squeamishness." Allura said quietly. "It's a matter of right and wrong." Lotor didn't look as though he believed her, rattling his hand cuff once more.

"We can argue about what is right and what is wrong some other time. The Keraclon will be looking for me, leaving a swath of destruction in their wake. We're all very fortunate that Allura and I managed to evade their grasp, but our luck can't hold out indefinitely."

"Just tell us what we need to know, Lotor." Hunk was trying to sound reasonable. "We'll do the rest, and take care of this menace for you."

"I will." His sudden and seemingly easy agreement stunned everyone, Pidge squeaking in high pitch surprise.

"You will?"

Another smirk, Lotor's nodding. "After we get to Arus."

"Arus?" Allura was surprised, and trying to hush the conversation that erupted behind her. "Why do you want to go to Arus?"

"Well, it's certainly better than remaining here." Lotor replied with a chuckle. "And once on Arus, we can put some things into motion." He fixed her with an intense stare, Allura frowning at him. "I have conditions Allura. Things that must be agreed on before I will give up my secrets."

"Why do I get the feeling nothing good can come of these conditions?" She demanded. He just smiled at her, purposefully rattling his handcuff as a reminder to set him free. "Fine." She hissed out, hardly pleased with the idea. "We'll take you to Arus."

Immediately protests erupted around her, Keith grabbing hold of her by the arm. "Princess! You can't be serious!"

"Unhand Allura!" growled Lotor, his eyes locked onto the point of contact between the captain and princess. Keith ignored him, giving Allura a little shake, earning more of Lotor's infuriated growls. The prince actually moved to get off the bed, iv rack falling over from his quick movement.

"Lotor, stay still! You'll only hurt yourself!" Allura admonished, than glared at Keith. "Let go of me..."

"Not until you realize what you're doing!" Keith snapped, and Allura drew herself up taller, regal in the moment.

"Captain I gave you an order."

"Keith, maybe you should let her go..." Lance was wary, he and Hunk having moved to surround Lotor.

"Finally, a sensible man!" Lotor muttered, and Keith let out an angry huff of air.

"Fine! But don't come crying to me, when he kills us all in our sleep!"

"Keith!" exclaimed Allura, the youth letting go of her arm, and stalking towards the room's exit. The door was already opening, a nurse coming in to find out why the iv alarm was ringing. "Where are you going?"

"To get some air!" He announced, and brushed past the startled nurse. The nurse took in the sight of Lotor, the prince out of bed, his iv having been pulled out of his arm.

"What's going on here?" The nurse demanded with a frown. "I told you not to upset him!" She hurried over to the bed, picking the iv rack up off the floor, and tossing away the needle. She angrily gestured at Hunk and Lance to help ease Lotor back into the bed, which they did, albeit none too gently. Lotor grumbled under his breath in Drule, the nurse opening his shirt to check on his wounds.

"You're fortunate your stitches didn't open up." Admonished the nurse. "He really shouldn't be moving around, not for a few days at least."

"I understand." Allura assured her.

"By the way, General Hirsthine is looking for you princess." The nurse continued fussing over Lotor, fingers taking the time and care to brush over each stitch. Allura almost thought the woman was touching Lotor too much, but she ignored that jealous little suspicion to focus on the words spoken to her.

"General Hirsthine?"

"Yes. He's very much interested in your encounter with the Keraclon. He would like to ask you some questions about them, if you don't mind." Explained the nurse.

"That's fine." Allura told her, than glanced at Lotor. "It seems we won't be able to leave for a few days yet. I trust you to concentrate on getting well enough to travel. Hunk, Lance...stay with him please."

"Sure, you didn't need to ask, we'd do it anyway." Hunk said, smiling at her.

"Thanks. I better go speak with the General. And not just about the Keraclon." She sighed. "Somehow I have to make a case for releasing Lotor into my custody..."

"I'm sure you'll manage just fine." Lance tried to sound reassuring.

"I hope so." Allura said, and glanced at the nurse who had finally stopped touching Lotor. "Will you show me the way?"

"Of course." The nurse said, and stepped towards the princess. Together they left the room, Alliance soldiers retaking position up against the sides of the door. "The prince is a very fortunate man." The nurse confided to Allura.

"Oh?"

"His wounds were very severe. He's both lucky to have come away from his crash and encounter with the Keraclon, as he is that we had his blood type and plenty of it available to us."

"Is it really that rare?" Allura asked, and the nurse nodded.

"Oh yes. The odds are something like one in every fifty-thousand is born with it." The woman sighed then. "We used up almost all our reserves of it. I don't know when we will be able to get more..."

"I see. I'll be sure to have the prince extend his gratitude to you and the other staff." They were walking through the corridors of the building, Allura taking the time to study the route they were traveling. She was confidant she'd be able to find her way back to Lotor's room on her own.

"Oh no thanks is needed!" protested the nurse. "We were just doing our job." She paused before a door, bowing to Allura. "Well, the General should be inside here."

"Ah I see. Thank you." Allura nodded at her, than turned to knock on the door. A deep, masculine voice called out to her, bidding her to enter. She pushed open the door, and saw who she assumed to be General Hristhine sitting behind a desk, a thick brown cigar in hand. There was smoke curling off the tip of it, and it filled the room with it's bitter smell.

She tried not to cough, the cigar's smoke making her throat tighten in protest. "You wanted to see me, General?"

"Ah, Princess Allura." The General rose from his seat, putting his cigar to his lips as he reached out to grasp hold of her hand. She found her hand being pumped vigorously, the cigar bobbing on the general's lips. "So good of you to come see me. Please. Sit." He let go of her hand to gesture at one of the chairs, Allura finding herself perched on cushioned black leather.

"You wanted to ask me about my encounter with the Keraclon?"

"Ah yes. Just a minute..." He pulled out a recorder out of the top most drawer of his desk. "For someone to not only meet a Keraclon in a combat situation, but to be able to walk away, mind and body intact, is rare indeed." He pressed a button, and a red light lit up, signaling the recording had started. General Hristhine stated their names and the date, then focused his attention on Allura.

"What can you tell me about the Keraclon?"

"I don't think I discovered all that much." Allura admitted, the General's face not betraying if he was disappointed to hear that. "Most of what I encountered matches up with the rumors and reports we pieced together from other people's run in with the Keraclon." She raised a hand, brushing back stray hair from her eyes. "But...I can confirm one thing...it's true about those protrusions on their body. They can and will use them as projectiles, though they didn't seem to have much control over aiming them. Perhaps it's a last ditch defense mechanism in case their telepathy fails..." She was guessing at the last, not really knowing why else the Keraclon would need those spikes.

"I see. Is there anything else? Anything at all?" prodded Hristhine hopefully.

"I touched one of them...although it was through my gloves. It's skin was moist, though I couldn't tell you why..."

"Ah yes...we did find traces of a substance on your gloves. Our scientists are hard at work trying to identify what the liquid is, and what purpose it serves." Hristhine told her.

"I wish I could have brought back a Keraclon for you to study." Allura let her regret fill her voice, remembering how there had been four dead ones primed and ready to be autopsied. "But I had enough difficulty getting Lotor onto blue lion."

"It's fine princess." Assured the General. "It's a long shot, but we've dispatched ships to the planet. If the scavengers and Keraclon haven't done away with those bodies, we may be able to bring a corpse or two back to study."

She nodded, and the interview continued, General Hristhine making her go over every second of her encounters with the Keraclon. He even asked her about the fear she had felt, marveling at her abilities to suffer through such a concentrated attack to help Prince Lotor. She grew flustered at his praise, and was quick to remind him that she had been more scared than brave, much of her attacks frantic acts of desperation than any true heroics of her part.

The General scoffed at her attempts to belittle her success against the Keraclon, the interview lasting for nearly forty-five minutes before the man was satisfied. The recorder was turned off, but Allura was hardly relaxed, knowing as unpleasant as it was to remember what had gone down on the planet, a more difficult task awaited her. One she couldn't put off any longer, especially when Hristhine himself steered the conversation towards Lotor.

"I also want to thank you for bringing us such a valuable prisoner." The General was all smiles, shaking the ash from his cigar into an ashtray. "The Alliance has been after Prince Lotor for years now...it will be so satisfying to bring him to justice for his crimes."

"Er...about that..." Allura fidgeted in her seat. "I'm afraid...I can't give you Lotor..."

"What!" His voice boomed out, the General losing his friendly smile.

"Not yet at least!" Allura added hastily. "It's just...there was an unforeseen complication."

"Unforeseen complication? What in the galaxy could make you even think of letting Lotor loose?"

"He won't be let loose, not exactly." She hastily amended. "He'll be taken into my personal custody, and housed on Arus." She still fidgeted, playing her fingers on the chair's arm rest. "You see General, Lotor claims to know how we can defeat the Keraclon. How we can defeat the entire race."

"Is such a thing possible?" asked the shocked General, and Allura shrugged.

"Prince Lotor seems to think so. But he refuses to tell us how unless his conditions are met with." Now she sighed. "I don't want to cater to his whims any more than you do, but I do want the threat of the Keraclon eliminated. No matter the cost."

"I just hope for all our sakes that cost won't prove too high." Hristhine grumbled. Allura nodded, a shiver going through her as she remembered the way Lotor had looked at her when she asked him what he wanted. She didn't want to be overly suspicious of his intentions, but she had the feeling he would make them all jump through hoops before he was satisfied enough to tell them what they wanted to know.

To Be Continued!

For the record, I don't like this chapter...-_-

Michelle

Lotor Sincline, thanks! Lotor has the ultimate playing card, and you can bet he abuses the power it gives him! XD And Keith's blood pressure just continues to rise as long as Lotor is around! XD

DimerasLover, thank you! I'm so glad you liked Allura's thoughts and feelings. I hear ya on not liking Keith! XD And Lotor brings out Keith's worse behavior...Yes, they do kinda act like the Independance Day aliens! DIdn't those too do something like use up a planet and then move on? Ah but Zarkon won't find out for a while. See the angle I went with is, Zarkon assumes the worse. He thinks Lotor died so when Lotor finally calls his dear pop up, Zarkon is annoyed he waited so long to inform him he was still alive! 

Misty Gargoyle, you really made my day with all those email alerts of new reviews! Thank you so much! :D I'm glad you're liking this story! And that you like my portrayals of Lotor and Allura. I had a lot of fun with a more feisty Allura. And it's not apparent yet, but soon you'll see the chapters that had me calling Lotor lovingly a smarmy scumbucket! XD Keith will probably be more annoying, cause when he's around Lotor, he can't help but be angry and offensive. XD


	8. Chapter 8

It took roughly three days before the doctor agreed Lotor was stable enough to travel, and it was not a moment too soon as far as Allura was concerned. The days spent in the medical facility had seemed endless, boring one minute, and tension filled the next. There wasn't much to do in ways of entertainment, Allura and her team mates mainly spending their days watching videos.

Of course, that was when they weren't taking turns trying to weasel out answers out of Lotor. But no matter who tried to question him, Lotor remained secretive, wearing that infuriating smirk of his. Keith was the most stubborn when it came to Lotor's questioning, the captain of the Voltron Force determined to somehow trick Lotor into revealing what he knew. Keith reasoned that if Lotor accidentally let slip the secret to the Keraclon's defeat, then they wouldn't have to give in to his conditions.

Lotor was being as secretive about what his conditions would be, as he was about the Keraclon. It didn't make Allura feel any better that the one and only demand he had made was to be taken to Arus. Especially when Lotor kept smiling at her, a darkly intense look in his feline like eyes, The looks made her uncomfortable, and she tried to avoid him as much as she could. But between Lotor's requests to visit with her, and her own team mates begging her to work Lotor over, she found herself in the Drule's presence one too many times.

It was almost a relief when the doctor said Lotor could leave the medical facility, even as Allura quelled in fear at the thought of Nanny's reaction to the Drule coming to live at the castle of lions. Coran of course, already knew the situation, suitably aghast yet resigned to giving in to Lotor's demands. It was for the greater good after all, the Keraclon needing to be stopped before they continued their ruthless genocide of the other races in the Denubian Galaxy.

But neither Allura nor Coran had prepared Nanny for Lotor's arrival, the advisor not wanting to deal with the woman's hysterics on his own. Allura wasn't looking forward to the scene Nanny would most likely cause upon their arrival, even if she was eager to get home and back to some semblance of normalcy. Not that she expected much, Allura knowing Lotor's continued presence in their lives would send everything topsy turvy.

He was already succeeding in just that, Keith in a continuos bad mood, the captain hostile and angry almost every time he spoke. Keith didn't like that Lotor was coming with them, and he had managed to assert his authority by forbidding Lotor ride with Allura in blue lion. The princess might have taken offense at being ordered around like that, but in this case she had been glad to submit to Keith's command.

In the end, Lance had volunteered to let Lotor ride in red lion, and it seemed as good a plan as any. Keith would have preferred to have Lotor ride in black lion, but both men were too angry and hostile towards one another for that to be a viable option. They were liable to kill each other mid flight, and though Lance was somewhat of a hot head, at least he could keep his calm around Lotor.

One condition of Keith's was that Lotor be bound while traveling to Arus. The Drule prince had hardly looked pleased, and Allura had expected another argument to break out. But Lotor had just sighed, as though all the fighting was tiring him out, allowing them to hand cuff his good hand to the ladder in red lion. Even with Lotor secured, Keith had insisted that Lance keep open contact at all times, his radio always tuned in to black lion.

Sometimes Allura tuned her radio to red lion's frequency, listening in quiet bewilderment at the almost friendly conversation the pilot and prince managed. It was mainly talk about girls, the two both sharing an open appreciation of the fairer sex. Lance seemed especially intrigued by Lotor's harem, and the prince began detailing some of the beauties he kept as pleasure slaves.

When Lotor's tone turned boastful, telling of more lewd things he had done with his harem, Allura quickly shut off the radio. She told herself she was only upset because the women he had done those things to were slaves, their choices taken away from them. She didn't care how he pampered them, a slave was a slave, no matter how adored.

Eventually, after a day and a half of traveling, and covering thousands upon thousands of light years, they reached Arus. Allura's nerves began to wind up, tension coiling in her body. She was so nervous about facing Nanny, she almost felt fear! She thought to herself that Nanny had to be part Keraclon herself, to be able to cause such a reaction in her.

Coran and Nanny were waiting for them on the front lawn of the castle, the advisor's face grave and concerned. Allura was surprised Nanny didn't suspect anything from the look on Coran's face alone, but then Coran usually looked that serious.

The lion's landing stirred up the wind, Nanny struggling to keep her skirts and petticoats from blowing up. Allura did the shut down procedures, delaying as long as she could before exiting her lion. It appeared Lance had the same idea, for he was the last to come down, Lotor nowhere in sight. Keith frowned, and immediately rushed over to Lance, his voice raised in a shout.

"You left him alone in your lion?"

"Relax Keith." Lance tried to calm him, patting the key on his uniform's breast. "Our guest is going nowhere. Not without this."

"Yeah Keith, it's not like he'll be able to hot wire the lion!" spoke up Pidge, and Keith shot an angry glare at green lion's pilot.

Nanny had rushed over to throw her arms around Allura, seeming not to notice how she stiffened in response. "Oh princess, thank goodness you are safe!" The older woman was exclaiming. "I was so worried, and then when we got your message that you were off investigating some signal..."

"I'm fine Nanny. See? Not a scratch on me." That wasn't entirely true, Allura knew she had a few small cuts that were hidden under her uniform's fabric.

"But still." Nanny let out an angry hmph of sound. "You should have never gone on that survival exercise in the first place. It was simply too dangerous!"

"The exercise wasn't dangerous." Pidge piped in. "It was answering that distress signal that really made for a troublesome time!"

"What? What do you mean?" Nanny demanded, even as Keith continued to shout at Lance.

"Keep your voice down Keith!" Lance hissed, giving a jerk of his head in Nanny's direction. Keith ignored him, continuing to rant and rave about the situation in red lion. It distracted Nanny from Pidge and Allura, the woman frowning.

"You brought someone with you?" She asked, and Allura reluctantly nodded. "Ah, I know...it's the person you rescued, isn't it...?"

"You're not that far off the mark." Allura muttered, then sighed. "Nanny, this person is going to be staying with us for a while."

"A guest?" Nanny asked, then frowned harder. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner. None of the guests rooms have been prepared! Oh, I'll have to work the maids double time to make room for your guest!"

"The dungeons would be better for scum like him." Muttered Keith, causing confusion in Nanny.

"What does that mean?" She wanted to know, and suddenly every one, even Coran was looking at Allura. The princess fought the urge to fidget, making herself look at Nanny, appearing calm and collected on the outside.

"Our...guest isn't the typical kind of person we welcome into the castle." Allura began, wincing. "In fact..you could say guest is too nice a word for our association with him."

"I don't understand." Nanny complained. "Stop talking in circles and just tell me who it is."

"It's...It's Prince Lotor." She didn't need to say anymore, Nanny knowing who that was.

"Lotor of Doom?" Allura nodded, almost flinching back at Nanny's shout. "I will not have that fiend in the castle! I will not have him near the princess, he's liable to do anything!"

"Calm down Nanny." Lance said, and Allura instantly wished he'd be quiet. "He had plenty of alone time with Allura. And yet she's still fine."

"WHAT?" Nanny roared, her eyes seeming to look Allura over, as though she could find some mark on her that would point to Lotor's defilement of the princess. "When?"

"It's a long story Nanny." Allura said, then hastened to do a short explanation. "Lotor was the one who sent out the distress signal. I rescued him and helped him escape his pursuers..."

"Why would you do a such a thing?" Nanny wanted to know.

"He was being chased by the Keraclon." A sharp gasp from Nanny, and for a second she looked fearful, making a holy sign over her chest to ward off the nightmares. "You can understand, can't you?" Allura asked. "I couldn't leave him to those monsters."

"Even though he is as big a monster as those...wretched beings are?" Nanny demanded.

"No one is worse than the Keraclon." decided Hunk, and Allura made a mental note to thank him for that later.

"I don't understand." Nanny admitted. "If you saved him, you should have handed him over to Garrison and the Alliance. Let them deal with making him pay for his crimes. Why did you bring Lotor to Arus!"

"It's one of his conditions." Keith's tone was disgusted, his expression cold as he sneered.

"Conditions? Since when do we bargain with a killer?"

"Since he knows how to defeat the Keraclon. Permanently." Explained Allura. Nanny's eyes widened at that, she looked torn between wanting to believe, and denouncing Lotor as a liar.

"So we have to humor him." Coran spoke now, and Nanny turned to look at him, her eyes narrowed.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" She accused, and Coran nodded. "And you kept this from me? Hmph! I don't think this is a good idea, but all right, bring him down. Captain Keith is right, we cannot allow Lotor to be left unattended inside one of the lions."

"Right..." Allura was relieved, thinking Nanny was handling this better than expected.

"Okay..." Lance said, and returned to his lion. He disappeared inside, and silence descended upon them, Allura and the others seeming not to know what to say as they waited. It seemed to take longer than expected, Allura didn't know what Lance was doing, and she almost worried that Lotor had turned traitor and overpowered the pilot. But eventually the two emerged, Lotor on a crutch and being helped down by Lance.

Nanny waited until Lotor was off of red lion before she approached him. She got right in his face, her eyes doing a slow scan of the prince in his ill fitting, borrowed clothes. Finally she let out a haughty sound. "Hmph. You don't look so tough now."

Lotor looked her over, and Allura wondered what he was thinking in the moment. "Madame, I can assure you. Even injured as I am, I am still capable of being a threat." He did a slow smirk, purposefully flashing his fangs at her.

Nanny seemed to pale, though she didn't back away from Lotor. Instead she let out a hiss of breath, and turned dramatic. "Did you hear that Allura?" The woman demanded. "He just threatened me!"

"Nanny, he did no such thing." Allura exclaimed, and Lotor didn't help matters by leaning forward.

"Madame, you will know when I am being threatening towards you."

"PRINCESS!"

Allura nearly threw up her hands, fed up with the exchange between the prince and the nanny. Coran took pity on her, and moved to guide Nanny away from Lotor. "Come Nanny." He said. "Why don't you go and prepare a room for our guest?"

"I will not!" Nanny hissed. "I am not doing anything to make that fiend comfortable! He shouldn't even be allowed inside the castle!"

"Nanny, I am in complete agreement with you." Keith spoke up. "Lotor, we brought you to Arus. Save us all a lot of time and aggravation and tell us what you know!"

"Come now, the least you can do is make me comfortable." Lotor argued. "It's been a long journey, and the accommodations inside the lion were hardly adequate."

Allura almost felt sorry for him then, thinking it couldn't be comfortable for him, sitting on the cold, metal floor of the lion. Handcuffed to it's ladder, his one arm broken and in a sling, his ankle twisted. "All right Lotor...we can do that much for you."

"Thank you Allura." He smiled at her, and Nanny made an upset sound to see it. "Of course...we have quite a few things to talk about. Would you care to join me for dinner later on?"

"Look at him, he thinks he's Mr. Smooth." Commented Pidge in a staged whisper.

Allura was taken aback by his invite, blinking owlishly at Lotor. "I uh..."

"Of course I would like to dine with you alone." He continued. then glanced at Nanny. "See to it that fresh flowers are brought to my room. And have the cook prepare his signature dish."

"You're not going to enjoy the princess' company!" Nanny growled. "Not this night, not ANY night!"

"She's right Lotor. I will not meet with you. Certainly not alone." Allura said, and was surprised by Lotor's smirk.

"That's fine with me Allura. But do keep this in mind. The longer you refuse to dine with me, the longer it will take for me to remember any tidbits about the Keraclon."

"That's blackmail!" She exclaimed, and he continued to smirk.

"Call it what you like."

"Lotor, you bastard! Stop manipulating Allura!" That was from Keith, who took a step towards Lotor, fists raised as though he wanted to take a swing at the prince. Hunk quickly moved to stand between the two men, holding his hands up in a gesture meant to calm Keith.

"Fine Lotor!" Allura was angry, face red in reflection of that. "I'll meet you on tonight."

"Alone Allura." He reminded her, and she nodded. "And wear something pretty." He continued, his next words were such that Hunk was barely able to keep Keith off of Lotor. "Something short and backless."

"Lotor, you scum!" hissed Keith, bristling with impotent rage. Lotor ignored the insult, using his crutch to walk awkwardly towards the caste's gates. He nodded to Coran as he passed by, the advisor looking put upon as he moved to follow the prince. No one trusted Lotor enough to allow him unlimited access to the castle, he would be escorted at all times, save for when he was in his room.

Nanny was wringing out her apron, hinting at how nervous and upset she was by the prince's words. She was staring in the direction of the castle, eyes tracking Lotor and Coran's progress. If looks could kill, Lotor would have been struck down by the daggers that were Nanny's eyes.

"You're not really gonna meet with him alone, are you?" Pidge wanted to know, and Allura sighed.

"What else can I do? If I want to get him to tell us what he knows...I have to play along with his games." She flushed then, unable to keep from getting flustered. "I just hope he doesn't take it too far."

"Too far?" Nanny whirled around, her eyes alarmed. "What do you mean by too far?"

"It's nothing Nanny." Allura said, wondering why the kiss Lotor had forced on her had just sprang to mind. "Let him have his fun. In the end it won't matter. We'll use what he knows, defeat the Keraclon, and hand him over to Garrison."

It was perhaps a sneaky maneuver on her part, but Allura was certain she had never promised Lotor he would have his freedom long term. She was determined to trick him, to get both the answers the galaxy so desperately needed, and put away one of the Denubian's most dangerous criminals. A dinner and some one sided flirtation seemed the least she could endure, Allura hoping to wheedle out of Lotor everything he knew tonight.

Sorry short chapter, but I couldn't really think how to flesh it out so it was longer. But still I like this one, especially him telling her what kind of dress to wear!

To Be Continued! XD

Michelle

KMS5665, well of course Lotor would never include Allura in his insults to the Voltron Froce. Wasn't even thinking of that epiosde either!

DimerasLover, thanks! I'm giggling cause yes he's hot! Unfortunately any endearments she might feel, get blown out of the water with his selfish behavior in the coming chapters. ^^;; *giggles* Keith so needs a vacation, but he'd refuse to take one so long as Lotor is in the picture. Which only continues to aggravate him. Thank you again, I'm glad you're having fun reading this story of mine. :D

Lotor Sincline, yes...it was a chapter that makes me cringe just rereading it. It wasn't fun to write either! I felt like I didn't do too good a job on the conversations...-_- But thank you for liking it! Keith is totally flipping out over Lotor! XD

Misty Gargoyle, yay! You played catch up! Thanks so much for your words! It really made me happy to get all those new reviews in my mailbox. :D I'm glad you found the Keraclon aliens scary. And that you like how I am portraying Lotor and Allura. I toughened Allura up a bit for this story. ^_- Seems Allura putting Keith in his place proved a popular move with the readers. :D


	9. Chapter 9

It wasn't long after Arus' sun had set, that Allura found herself outside the room that had been given to Lotor. A maid was just emerging from inside the room, wheeling an empty dinner cart past her. The young woman paused to bow to the princess, but Allura barely took notice of her, finding her mouth was dry, and her hands felt clammy. And all because she caught sight of Lotor, the prince prowling closer to the open door.

They had given him new clothes, although nothing available in the castle was able to easily fit his tall frame. The shirt stretched tight across his chest, she could see the lines of his body through the thin fabric. His pants were just as snug, the thin cotton coming up short on his ankles. He should have looked laughable in the ill fitting clothes, but to Allura he was simple intimidating.

His right arm was still in it's sling, heavy cast covering it from wrist to elbow. He was on his crutch, and yet somehow he made his movements graceful, Lotor smiling at her. That smile lasted long enough for him to look her over, and then it turned into a frown, Lotor noting the dress she wore was definitely not short, and not backless. But it was off the shoulder, the closest to sexy that she owned in a gown.

Not that Allura wanted to cater to him, but she was conscious that she had to appear to be making some effort to please him. Especially if she wanted him to reveal the secrets he knew involving the Keraclon and their destruction.

"You didn't wear the dress..." Lotor noted, and she flushed.

"I don't have the kind of dress you asked me to wear." Allura said, making it sound like it had been a simple request, and not an order.

"A pity." Lotor answered, and limped forward. Somehow he maneuvered it, so that he was able to keep the crutch from falling to the floor, as he took hold of her hand. Lotor kept his eyes on hers as he raised her hand to his lips, the Drule brushing a kiss over her knuckles. "We'll just have to work on expanding your wardrobe options for the future then."

She snatched her hand back from his, Allura fighting to keep the glare off her face. "My wardrobe choices are just fine." She said, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "They are! Really!" She insisted, and he chuckled.

"At the very least, you could do with some other color than pink." Again that leer, Lotor looking her dress over, his gaze lingering on her cleavage.

"What's wrong with pink?" Allura demanded, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to hide her breasts.

"Nothing." Lotor answered, then smirked. "In moderation of course." She didn't know what to say to that, knowing it was true that almost every outfit she own had at least traces of the color on it. "Well, Allura, are you going to come inside?"

She gave him a look, still hesitant and uncertain about this whole arrangement. But out loud she exuded confidence, her blue eyes challenging as she brushed past him. "I said I would dine with you, didn't I? And unlike you, I don't renege on my deals."

He actually touched her hair as she moved past him, Allura having to fight not to whirl around and glare. "When have I ever renege on a promise?" Lotor wanted to know, and she shrugged.

"Where should I start? It's a long list of people you've disappointed and betrayed." She was looking around the room, noticing that yes, Nanny had indeed brought fresh flowers to him. But the roses still had their thorns, Nanny purposefully forgetting to trim them of those sharp tips. It would be nothing but an annoyance to Lotor, Allura doubting Nanny's petty vengeance would even register with him.

It was one of the larger guest bedrooms, it's cream colored walls decorated with examples of art of the local artisans of Arus. One of the paintings showed the lions soaring over the castle, the colors bold and bright. Exquisite oriental rugs were spread out on the floor, positioned at the foot of the bed, and beneath a small table. That table was located near the open window, it's curtains billowing in the gentle breeze.

There had been no need to bar Lotor's windows. It wasn't as if he intended to go anywhere, not now that he had gained access to the castle of lions, limited though it was. Lotor had yet to complain about the fact that he wasn't allowed to travel alone through the castle, the prince surely realizing that his bargaining chip only extended so far when it came to Arusian secrets.

"Now Allura." She jumped, Lotor behind her. She hadn't been aware of him moving, and as she turned to face him, she saw that he had closed the door to the room. "Do you personally know anyone I have disappointed, or is that all rumor and hearsay you are basing that information on?"

"I know a few." She answered coolly. "My cousin being one of them."

"Ah Romelle." His smile didn't reach his eyes, leaving Allura to wonder what sort of memories he had when it came to the princess of Pollux. "Such an unfortunate acquaintance."

"Unfortunate? That's putting it mildly!" Allura exclaimed. "You kidnapped and held her prisoner for months. You tortured her, in ways my cousin is loathe to talk about. You..."

"I'm sure Romelle has exaggerated some of what went on." Lotor interupted her. "Allura really, do you honestly want to spend our evening discussing Romelle's lies and accusations?"

"My cousin is not a liar!" defended Allura, feeling angry.

"Everyone lies sooner or later Allura. Even you." Lotor retorted, and she flushed. He noticed, smirking, though she didn't bother to supply him with an example of the times she had fibbed.

"At least my lies never hurt anyone." She muttered, then wondered. Was her planned manipulation of Lotor any less of a lie? It would hurt him to be betrayed like that, even though she felt certain it was for the good of the galaxy that Lotor be locked away.

"I'm sure you lie with nothing but the purest of intentions." Lotor told her, and maneuvered himself over to the table. An extravagant meal was laid out on it's surface, almost too much food for just two people to eat, even if one of them happened to be a healthy Drule male!

Lotor carefully lowered himself into the chair, and then gestured for her to take a seat across from him. "You'll excuse me if I don't pull out your chair?" He asked, and she nodded.

"It must be difficult to move about with your arm in a sling." Allura said, and he nodded.

"You have no idea." He sighed then. "It's so limiting, I can barely accomplish anything with my arm like this. I look forward to the day the cast comes off."

"How long does a broken arm take for a Drule to heal?" questioned Allura, curious about this. She didn't know much about the Drules' healing properties, and was wondering if they could somehow mend a broken bone faster than a human.

"Little more than a month." Lotor said with a grimace. "Not that different from you humans."

"I guess we're not that different, at least when it comes to healing." Allura noted, and Lotor nodded.

"We have more in common than you think. And we are a compatible species sex wise."

She had been reaching for a glass of juice, and now she nearly spilled it, shocked by what Lotor had said. "Lotor!"

He chuckled, amused by her reaction. "It's true Allura. I'm proof enough of that."

"Because of the harem you keep?" She asked sarcastically, noting his grin widened.

"Well, that too." He paused to pick up his glass, nodding at the uncorked bottle of wine. She took the hint and opened it for him, pouring him a glass of the white liquid. "But what I meant was the fact that my mother was a human."

She almost overflowed his glass, so taken aback by what he said. "You mean your father...and a human...?" It was too horrific to contemplate, Allura trailing off.

"It wasn't consensual on her part, if that's what you're thinking." He was almost casual as he drank, acting as if the idea of his mother's rape didn't bother him. But the tightening around his eyes hinted at the exact opposite.

"I see." She began uncovering the plates to distract herself, not wanting to think about his mother any further. The foods revealed were mouth watering, succulent pieces of meat. The cook had gone all out, preparing his signature dish of broiled lamb with a honey sauce. Salads and other side dishes were present, and there was even a desert laid out, chocolate covered strawberries. "Cook has outdone himself." She commented out loud, spearing a generous amount of salad onto her plate.

"I'll be lucky if that maid of yours didn't have him poison my meal." Lotor muttered, and Allura frowned.

"Do you mean Nanny?" He nodded, and she shook her head. "Nanny wouldn't do that! She may get upset, but she's not exactly murder minded!"

"I suppose I'll have to take your word for it." Lotor replied, and began cutting into the lamb, his actions surprisingly smooth considering it wasn't his dominant hand he had use of.

"You're very good at that." Allura noted. "Even when facing the Keraclon, I saw you were able to wield your sword effectively with you other hand."

"I've been fortunate to be ambidextrous." Lotor smiled. "It's a blessing for a warrior to be able to use both hands in battle." He paused to taste the meat, then nodded his approval. "Speaking of my sword, I would like it back."

"What, now?"

"At your earliest convenience." Lotor told her. "Is it still in your lion?"

"Yes, I had no reason to remove it."

"Perhaps then we could go together to fetch it." Suggested Lotor, and she gave an unlady like snort.

"You must think me incredibly naive, if you think I would agree to that. Honestly Lotor! I would not enter my lion with you a second time, especially if you had access to a weapon!" Allura told him, noting he seemed to be pouting.

"Allura, you wound me." Lotor told her. "I have no ulterior motives save for the pleasure of enjoying a moon light stroll with you." She fixed him with a disbelieving look, which caused him to amend his statement. "And to fetch my sword. It's very valuable."

"Oh? Did it cost a lot to make?" She inquired, and he nodded.

"A small fortune. But that's not why it's so valuable."

"Care to elaborate?" Allura asked.

"It was a gift. A token to show I had earned the valued esteem of one of Doom's greatest warlords." Lotor explained. "He had trained many men and women, and few had met his demanding expectations."

"But you did, I suppose?" Allura arched an eyebrow at him, and Lotor frowned.

"Why do I get the feeling you think I only got the sword because of my status as prince of Doom?"

"I didn't say that!" Allura quickly retorted, but it didn't lessen Lotor's frown.

"Well, you're wrong. I earned my sword through blood, sweat and tears." Lotor viciously jabbed his fork into the lamb on his plate, it's juices actually spurting out. She was silent for several seconds, just staring at him as he angrily began to eat. His fangs gnashed the meat almost violently, leaving Allura to wonder why he was so upset.

"I'm...sorry I guess. I didn't know.."

"No, you didn't." Lotor answered, seeming hardly in the mood for her half hearted apologies. "We Drule are not like you humans when it comes to learning how to fight."

"I won't argue that." Allura said quietly. She began to eat, and for a while they said nothing, focused on their meal. But the silence was getting to her, Allura unable to stand his glowering expression. She finished chewing her bite of the meat, then cast a thoughtful look at Lotor. "So tell me..." She tried for a casual tone, Allura wondering if she could trick Lotor into admitting what she wanted to know. "Just how did you come across the Keraclon's weakness?"

He busied himself with drinking his wine, gazing back at her. "You want to know the whole story?" She nodded, and he set down the glass, patting his lap with his good hand. "Then come here."

She blinked, her eyes widening. "What? There?" Lotor nodded, and Allura gasped. "You can't be serious!"

"Oh I'm very serious." Lotor told her. "Maybe even more than you are about finding out about how to destroy the Keraclon. So let's put it to the test. Which do you value more? The knowledge to protect the galaxy, or your...maidenly modesty?"

"That's hardly a fair choice to be giving me!" Allura exclaimed, her upset visible.

"But it's a choice nonetheless." Lotor smirked, his eyes lowering to give him a sleepy look. But he was no less alert, waiting to see what she would do next. She turned away from him, looking longingly at the door that led out into the hall. She knew with his injuries, he wouldn't be able to move fast enough to stop her from leaving, and yet Allura couldn't make the move to leave him. Not with so much at stake.

"I'm not doing this for you." She announced, rising from her seat. He watched her, reminding her of a predator stalking it's prey, Allura keeping her chin held up high.

"Truthfully I don't care why you are doing it." Her cheeks burned at his words, Allura wearing an angry blush as she came around to his side of the table. He shifted his chair back enough so there would be room for her to fit on his lap, but it would be a snug fit against the table's edge. She gritted her teeth, and slowly lowered herself down onto his lap, Allura sitting stiffly on him.

"That's a good girl." Lotor purred, and his good hand reached to pet her hair, the prince bringing some of the long strands to his nose. "You always smell so good Allura...like the sunshine and flowers Doom does not have."

"I wasn't aware sunshine had a smell." Allura murmured.

"Oh but it does..." Lotor insisted, but did not elaborate. "Now, I believe you were asking me how I made my discovery...?"

"Yes." She was carefully not to move too much on his lap, sitting so that she stared at the door, rather than at Lotor. He leaned in to her ear, warm breath coasting along her skin. It made her shiver, Allura sure her flesh was breaking out into goose bumps from his nearness.

"My father has had his best people at work on a solution for months." Began Lotor, voice a throaty whisper in her ear. "The most brilliant minds that science has to offer, along with those of outstanding magical capabilities." As he spoke, he would occasionally pause, nibbling on the lobe of her ear. His bite was gentle, but no less shiver inducing, Allura biting back a gasp at his actions.

"It would take forever for them to come up with the key, and even longer for them to get close enough to the Keraclon to test it out." Continued Lotor, his fingers shifting through her hair, petting her as though she was a kitten.

"How did they manage to test something like that without the rest of the galaxy knowing about it?" Allura wondered out loud.

"We Drule have always been good at sneaking around." Came Lotor's answer. He had finished with her ear, and was now kissing down the side of her face, Allura studiously ignoring what he was doing. Each kiss was a little tease, and Lotor sometimes tasted her with the tip of his tongue, leaving moist rings on her skin. "There are dozens of Doom outposts spread throughout the Denubian, all working away on secret projects."

"Like the outpost you wanted me to fly blue lion to?" She inquired, and he kissed his way down the line of her jaw.

"Yes. But this one was special...Devoted to the single minded pursuit of ending the Keraclon threat."

"Was?" She seized upon that word, actually turning to him, his kisses straying in the process. A dark look flashed in his eyes, Allura sensing it had something to do with the outpost." "Lotor, what happened?"

"It was my father's wish that I attend the...testing. He wanted first hand confirmation that the experiment was a success."

"And was it?"

Allura noticed he avoided answering that question, the prince burying his face in the crook of her left shoulder. He sighed, and nuzzled his lips against her skin, and then his muffled voice came out. "I was to return with the information obtained...indeed, if I hadn't been ambushed, I'd already be on Doom, informing my father of all that had happened."

"Why were you ambushed?" She asked, and risked touching his hair.

"For the knowledge I possess." Lotor had raised his head at her touch, and she trembled at the intense look he gave her. "Allura, the Keraclon destroyed that outpost just minutes after I left. They made sure there was no survivors, not a man, or woman left alive. But more than that, they destroyed all the research, burnt down the labs, and shredded the documents, unleashing a virus into the computers."

"So that means you're the only one who knows?" She questioned, trying not to focus on the horror of the Keraclon unleashing their devastation on the Drule outpost.

"I'm the only one." He agreed. "If I had delayed, even just by a few seconds, I too would have died in their attack."

"Why didn't you send a broadcast to Doom?" Allura asked. "Let your father know of the knowledge before the Keraclon shot down your ship."

"And risk that information falling prey to an intercepting signal?" Lotor demanded. "No, Allura, my father doesn't want anyone else to have this advantage over the Keraclon. Not when he can use it to further tighten his hold on the Denubian Galaxy."

"How horrible of him! How greedy and self serving!" Allura exclaimed, and Lotor let out a bitter laugh.

"My father has always been an opportunistic bastard."

"At least we can agree on that." Allura murmured. "Lotor...so what is the key to the Keraclon's defeat...?"

"These strawberries look wonderful." The abrupt change in topic had Allura blinking, confusion in her eyes. Lotor shifted, reaching for one of the berries, and bringing it to his lips to taste.

"The Keraclon Lotor...tell me..." She urged, watching as he bit slowly licked some of the chocolate off the strawberry. It was almost obscene the way he used that tongue of his, Allura feeling heat rise to her cheeks.

"Did you know chocolate is an aphrodisiac?" Lotor asked, and brought the berry to her lips. She didn't part them, staring at him, even as he began nudging the fruit insistently against her lips. "Eat Allura, I command you."

"You command me?" She demanded with a frown, and he nodded.

"For tonight I do...for tonight and the nights that follow, so long as you are beholden to me to learn the secrets to the Keraclon's defeat." This time she bit into the berry, an explosion of it's juices and taste assaulting her taste buds. Lotor leaned into her, and bit on the other side of the strawberry, letting out a moan of pleasure. Their lips touched as the berry was devoured, and though Allura tried to jerk back from the kiss, Lotor's hand was suddenly on the nape of her neck.

That hand of his was keeping her from straying, Lotor insistent as he kissed her. The fruit's sweet juice, along with the chocolate on their lips added to the taste of his kiss, Allura letting out a squeak as protest. Her hands came up, pressing against his chest, trying to hold him at bay, but he was unstoppable, his passion growing as he tried to consume her from the mouth down.

The kiss didn't end, not completely, Lotor kissing at the corners of her frowning mouth. He seemed intent on licking up the stray bits of chocolate from her lips, and she held herself still, telling herself it was only for the knowledge that he possessed, that she must endure this.

"Lotor.." She tried to speak, to demand he answer her, but as she said his name, his tongue probed forward. It cut off her words, Allura gasping. She pushed harder at him, and heard him growl softly, Lotor's mouth hot and needy. It wasn't the only part of him, she could feel something prodding into her from below, and Allura wasn't that naive as to not know what that something could be.

She realized this dinner was rapidly getting out of control, Allura deciding she should have never given in to sit on his lap. This dinner was a mistake, maybe bringing him to Arus was an even bigger one, Allura quick to realize Lotor wouldn't be satisfied until he got everything from her. She mewled in protest, his hand now on the back of her hair, holding her in place as he continued his mouth's assault on her.

When he pulled back for air, she managed a breathless protest. "Lotor stop! You've had your fun, now tell me what I want to know!"

"Of course I will Allura." His own breathing was heavy, the slits of his cat's eyes thinned out, giving him an almost blind look. "After you marry me."

To Be Continued!

Michelle

KMS5665, I'm giggling cause it's so true. All her plans, and Lotor is outdoing her on being devious! XD He's really working that ace up the sleeve for all it's work. I've never seen that movie you mentioned, but now I'm curious to. But sadly, I hvae little time to actually watch tv. Too busy writing!

DimerasLover, thank you! I'm so glad to hear that. Hope this chaper was just as fun. As you can see, his inner scum bucket has come out! No more good behavior for him! Such a selfish, spoiled prince. XD Lance and Lotor could totally become best buds if their situations weren't so set on pitting them against one another. All cause they both appreciate the ladies...among other things! And yes, i bet Allura couldn't help but feel a little itty bit jealous over their harem talk. I like how you described Nanny in your review. She really is a force of nature when it comes to makign them (Especially Allura) be all prim and proper. Lotor's having fun, and will continue to be an ass! XD

Misty Gargoyle, thank you! The dress part was a fun part to right. I was giggling over it while working on the chaper.

Lotor Sincline, thank you so much my prince! :D Hope you will continue to enjoy! And Keith is so close to exploding! XD


	10. Chapter 10

For an instant nothing was said, Allura just staring at Lotor, who was smiling. With his eyes' slits almost swallowed by the lust consuming him, he looked almost blind, and yet she knew Lotor was able to see her clearly. To not just see her, but notice the stiffening of her body, the way she squared her shoulders, her chest heaving as she took an angry breath.

With the expelling of that breath, came her words, Allura not quite sneering. "I see your father is not the only opportunistic bastard housed among the Drule." A slow blinking of his eyes, Lotor's pouty, kiss swollen lips smirking at her.

"I would be a fool not to use what I know to all of my advantage."

"You would be a bigger fool to try my patience!" Allura retorted, and attempted to get up off his lap. His hand quickly transferred from the back of her hair to her waist, hold possessive in an attempt to trap her there. Even with the use of only one hand, his strength was impressive, making it seem as though it was effortless to keep her struggling body in place. "Lotor, let go of me!" She said heatedly, voice coming out louder with her anger.

"There's no need to be upset." Lotor's tone was silky, practically oozing seduction. "What I propose would benefit you in so many ways."

"HA!" An angry, hostile snort, Allura glaring at him. "The only benefits I can see, are ones to yourself!"

"You're not thinking of the big picture then, Allura." Lotor said, trying for a reasonable tone. "Think of it! The war ended, your people thriving, no longer scared and forced to suffer!"

"And what of the rest of the galaxy?" Allura demanded, sure her eyes were flashing with her heated emotions. "Am I to just sit blindly aside, while you and your father use Voltron to continue terrorizing other worlds?"

"Doom's threat is minimal when compared to that of the Keraclon." Lotor retorted. "The Keraclon will leave nothing and no one behind, they'll suck this galaxy dry, and move on to the next one. They've done it once, they'll do it again!"

"Which is why you should stop wasting all of our time, and tell me what I need to know!" Allura said, and shoved at his chest hard. She thought she caught him off balance, Lotor shifting, his grip loosening enough for her to slip off his lap. A growl followed her escape, and suddenly a vise like grip was around her right arm, Lotor's fingers locking into place.

She managed a startled sound, and then he was throwing her down on top of the table, Allura hearing the dinner wear rattle. Something squished beneath her, he hadn't bothered to clear a space for her. She could feel liquid dampening the back of her dress, and she was sure the chocolate of the strawberries was staining her hair. Allura registered all this in an instant, more concerned with the fact that an agitated Drule male was leaning over her, his good hand holding her down.

"What do you think you are doing?" Allura demanded, trying not to flinch as he lowered even further over her. "Get off me!" She added, hissing out her command. He didn't comply with her order, sniffing at her neck. Her voice raised in pitch, Allura angry as she shouted. "Lotor, stop!"

Her cry died down with a startled gasp, Lotor putting his fangs to her throat. She felt a very real moment of fear, his fangs scraping gently over that delicate flesh. She rolled her eyes to the side, looking for something, anything to use against him. It was just her luck that most of the knives and forks had fallen off the table and out of reach, the remaining soup spoon would hardly be a deterrent to the amorous prince.

He was still doing that thing with his fangs, doing gentle nips and bites as he worked to mark her skin. It made her seethe, her one hand shoving at his shoulder, trying to dislodge him even as she heard a faint commotion coming from the corridor outside this room. It was so much background noise to her, Allura stretching out her other arm, fingers closing around the stem of a glass.

"Lotor..." It took great effort to make that throaty purr, the change in her voice causing Lotor to raise up to look at her. She smiled at him sweetly, and he grinned back, making her wonder why he assumed he had won a victory over her. She dashed the triumph in his eyes, flinging the contents of the glass into his face. She aimed for his eyes, the sickly sweet juice spilling everywhere, Lotor cursing viciously as he scrambled to use his sleeve to wipe at his eyes.

She was about to slip out from under him when it happened, the door to the guest room slamming open. Allura gasped in surprise, freezing, her attention going to the door. Keith was standing there, visibly vibrating with anger, his dark eyes going to stare accusingly at the scene Allura and Lotor made at the table. It seemed to steal his words away, the captain sputtering, and it was only the fact that he had Hunk gripping his arms, Lance and Pidge on their knees, trying to hold him back by the legs, that kept Keith from pitching forward across the room.

"Keith!" Allura exclaimed, feeling both relief and mortification to be caught in a scene like this. Especially with Prince Lotor, Allura flinging the glass, watching it bounce off of Lotor's forehead. That and the juice in his eyes, distracted Lotor enough for Allura to slip out from beneath him, the princess scrambling to put distance between them.

"I knew we couldn't trust you!" Keith had found his words, screaming hostility at Lotor. "You conniving, Drule scum! Molesting the princess like that!"

"I'm fine Keith!" Allura said, but the captain didn't seem to hear her.

"We heard you scream Allura." Hunk began, looking sheepish. It was then she thought to wonder how they had been near enough to hear any of what was going on in this room, for the corridor had been empty when she had arrived for this disastrous dinner.

"You were checking up on me?" She didn't mean for it to sound accusing, Allura grateful that they cared enough to do that. Hunk actually blushed, flustered by her question.

"Something like that..." He muttered, his words almost lost to Keith's shouting. He continued to call Lotor names, the descriptions and words he used colorful, and yet somehow he managed to avoid the more potent curses. Lotor was growling, having snagged hold of a cloth napkin, to wipe the juice off his face.

"Oh do shut up!" The prince snapped at Keith, flinging the wet napkin onto the floor. He was blinking rapidly, surely his eyes must sting from the juice, and his gaze sought out Allura's. The blinking ruined his attempts at a glare, but his words held all the anger his expression lacked. "Allura, that was a very stupid thing to do!"

"The stupid thing would have been to just lay there and take your abuse!" She retorted.

"You tell him princess!" chirped Pidge.

Lotor did not bother to look Pidge's way, still staring at Allura. "You haven't begin to see true abuse if you think that is what that was!"

"OH? Then what was it then?" Allura demanded, snidely.

"It was merely a persuasion tactic." She seethed at Lotor's response, especially when he said the following. "To help you better understand the benefits of marrying me."

"Marriage!" exclaimed three of the Voltron Force members, Keith silent though his expression turned furious.

"Allura's not going to marry you!" added Pidge, the others nodding.

"Ah but she will!" Lotor insisted. "Especially if she wants the Keraclon to be stopped!"

"You vile villain!" Keith snarled. "The fate of the galaxy is in your hands, and you're more concerned with manipulating Allura into your bed!"

"How can you be so selfish?" Hunk wanted to know, still holding onto Ketih's arms.

"If it's selfish to want to marry the woman I love, then I wouldn't want to be any other way!" Lotor retorted, his blinking lessening. "And it wouldn't be so bad, Allura, marriage to me. I'd treat you good, take care of your needs and treasure you."

"It's not going to happen Lotor!" Allura snapped, hands on her hips. "I will never, ever marry you!"

"Never is a long time princess." Lotor said darkly. "And need I remind you, time is not on our side?"

"I know that!" Allura retorted hotly. "Which is why I agreed to humor you this far! But there are certain things I am not willing to do..."

"Not yet you mean." Lotor interrupted her, leaning against the table. "But how long will it be before you get so desperate for my information? How long before you cave in to my demands, and accept my affection?" She made fists out of her hands, trembling with her anger. "You see Allura, it's all just a matter of timing...eventually my offer to you will look viable to you. After all, marriage to me is so much better than complete annihilation at the hands of the Keraclon."

"It was a mistake to consider your conditions even for a second!" Allura announced, and turned from him. "This dinner is over with!" She stalked determinedly past the Voltron Force, heading for the open door. Her skirt flounced as she moved, and she very much thought she might turn and attack Lotor if he so much as said one more word to her.

She would have slammed the door shut behind her, as further manifestation of her anger, but suddenly the Voltron Force was there, attempting to follow her out into the hall. Even Keith had been turned away from Lotor, though his face was still angry and red. The rest of her team mates were more subdued, their eyes flashing with concern as they followed her through the hall.

She didn't head to her bedroom, even though she badly wanted to rip off her ruined dress, wash the chocolate out of her hair. So angry was her upset, she envisioned herself savagely tearing apart her dress, all to destroy the memory of the treatment she had suffered at Lotor's hands.

"Princess..." Hunk spoke when it became apparent her wandering was aimless, Allura having no known destination in mind. "Are you okay?"

"Oh I'm fine Hunk. Just fine." She answered, her tone and words sarcastic. "I not only failed to get the information we need, I was humiliated in the process!" She wanted to punch the wall, so frustrated and angry was she. "The galaxy is doomed so long as we rely on that pervert!"

"But what can we do?" Lance wondered out loud. "I mean, you can't marry him, that's out of the question! But we can't let him keep that knowledge to himself."

"I say we beat it out of him." Keith said darkly, turning as if he meant to head back to Lotor's room. "Eventually he'll break..."

"Could you really do that Keith?" Allura asked, turning to look him in the eyes. Her gaze was searching, noting the ugly hatred that shown in his expression. "Beat an injured man?"

Keith hesitated, and then expelled a deep breath, hand going up to ruffle his hair. "I don't know. I'd like to think I couldn't, but Lotor makes me so angry, I see red. I think I am capable of anything so long as it involves him..."

"Violence won't be the answer..." Hunk said wisely. "It's not our way. It's what separates us from the Drule. If we beat him, torture him, then we're no better than Zarkon and Lotor."

"But then what do we do?" demanded Keith, his voice rife with angry passion. "He's holding all the cards. He won't betray what he knows without getting what he wants, and that something is Allura!"

"I'm not a thing to be given away!" Allura exclaimed. "That's something I think Lotor will never understand." She shuddered then, remembering his lewd conversation with Lance about his harem. "He treats women as mere objects, as possessions! Something to be owned and then tossed away when he's through with them."

"We won't let him do that to you." Lance said, trying to sound reassuring. She frowned, surprised to note her eyes were wet with frustrated tears.

"I don't know if you'll be able to stop him." Allura sagged against the wall, tempted to sink down to her knees. "I may have to do what he wants, damn him!"

"Don't." Keith protested. "Don't even consider it! He's playing on your self sacrificing nature, and this is one thing we won't let you do!"

"Not even to save the galaxy?" She inquired, and all four guys shook their heads no. "Be realistic my friends. What if it was your home world that was threatened, what if it was Earth, Keith? Would you really let it be destroyed, all to spare me the pain and misery of taking Lotor for a husband?"

"I..." his look was uncertain, Keith fighting to find the right words.

"No...it may come to sacrificing for the greater good..." Allura sighed then, feeling her anger leave her, a weariness settling in it's place.

"Don't give up princess!" Pidge said, creeping closer to touch her hand. "Not yet. Not until we explore all our other options."

"Yeah." Agreed Lance. "is there anything you learned from that creep? Anything at all, anything that might be of use to us?"

She paused a breath, trying to think past the last minutes of the dinner, and Lotor's attempts at molestation. To think not of his forced kisses, and when he had flung her on top of the table, but the words he had been speaking. "There was an outpost..." Allura began, chewing her lip uncertainly. "Some military facility of Doom. Lotor says there's plenty of them, off the maps, working on secret projects."

"Great, more trouble for us and the rest of the galaxy." Grumbled Keith.

"They're probably working on more robeasts!" added Pidge, and Allura shrugged.

"I don't know about that. He didn't elaborate on any of them except the one focused on researching the Keraclon."

"The Keraclon!" exclaimed her teammates, the boys seeming to step closer to her in their eagerness to know more. She nodded tiredly.

"Yes, the best and brightest scientists and magic practitioners Doom has, all concentrating their efforts on discovering a way to somehow defeat the Keraclon." A grim smile then, but Allura felt no pleasure in what she had to say. "Apparently they succeeded, though it still didn't stop them from the Keraclon's vengeful hand. I'm not sure why the Drules didn't use the knowledge against the Keraclon, or maybe even with the weapon in place, the Keraclon was still able to fight." She shrugged. "All I do know is Lotor had gone to that outpost, to obtain the information, and return to Doom with it."

She raised her hands, fingers massaging at her temples to ward off the headache that she felt coming on. "Lotor managed to just avoid the Keraclon's attack, they decimated the outpost, killing everyone, destroying the evidence of their research. Lotor's the only one alive that knows the outcome of months of research, and the Keraclon want him badly."

"Where is this outpost of Doom's?" Keith asked, a shrewd look in his eyes.

"Don't know." Allura said, and the guys deflated except for Keith.

"It must have been close to the planet he crash landed on." Mused the captain of the Voltron Force. "I bet if we search around in that area, we could find it."

"Do you really think we could?" Hunk asked, sounding surprised.

"I'm confidant we could, though it would take time!"

"What would that accomplish though?" Lance asked Keith, reminding him of an important fact. "Lotor said the Keraclon destroyed it."

"That may be true, but maybe just maybe I could find something...some small piece that would point us in the right direction." Allura refused to feel hope at Keith's words, thinking it hopeless. "Pidge..." Keith turned his attention to the young boy now. "Can you map out the area for me? Figure out the most likely spots that outpost could have been on?"

"I could try..." But Pidge didn't sound very certain.

"Then do it. Do it now." Keith ordered. "I'll leave as soon as you have that information ready for me."

"You're leaving?" Lance exclaimed surprised. "You're actually gonna go on this wild goose chase, and leave us to deal with Lotor?"

"I have to Lance. And I have the utmost faith in your abilities to protect Allura from that Drule." A grim smile then. "I'd stay and do it myself, but we need someone with a dogged, single minded determination, someone with the patience to chase down all leads, even if they take him to many dead ends."

"Someone like you, in other words." Lance said wryly, and Keith nodded. "Well!" Lance clapped Keith on the back, cracking a humorless grin. "Better you than me! Try not to get killed as you go hunting for answers."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence in my abilities." Keith grumbled, and the other guys laughed. He then met Allura's eyes, giving her a smile which she returned, albeit weakly. "Don't worry Allura. If there's something to find, I'll find it. Till then try not to kill Lotor."

"I don't know if that's a promise any of us can keep." Joked Allura, to more laughter. That laughter drew attention to them, several maids and guards looking their way. They noted Allura's disheveled state, and she realized it wouldn't be long before the whole castle was talking about her, the gossip bound to reach Nanny's ears. She nearly groaned at the thought, not looking forward to having to explain it all to the overprotective woman.

To Be Continued!

Michelle

KMS5665, you got that right! Lotor's no dummy! But Allura's not givng in so easily either. XD

Lotor Sincline, thanks! I'm glad! And yes it did! XD


	11. Chapter 11

The day was bright and breezy. the midday sun high in the sky. The few clouds that were present, were white tufts of fluff, a stark contrast to the past two days of gray storm clouds. It was rare for this season to have such continuos downpour, the storms seeming to come from nowhere. It had left Allura cooped up inside her castle home, the princess spending much of her time in her room, going over her studies.

By the time the third morning rolled around, she was well ready to go out, the rain be damned. Fortunately for Allura, the third day was a complete contrast to the previous days, ushering in strong beams of sunlight that touched down on the land. Her mood improved drastically, Allura fetching some of her books, and going out to her gardens.

The gardens themselves were flourishing, having soaked up all the rain that had pelted them. And now with the sun shining warmth on them, many of the flowers were blooming, leaving her surrounded by a multi colored forest, some of which stretched up as high as her neck. The garden was also fragrant, the flowers many varied smells perfuming the air. It would have been a nightmare for someone who had strong allergies with all the pollen being released, but to Allura it was heaven.

She ignored the white wood gazebo that was situated in the center most spot of her gardens, instead choosing to lay a blanket down on the soft grass. Sprouting up from the ground, it's roots breaking up the evenness of the grass, was a large apple tree. It's long, sturdy branches offered shade from the sun, and Allura settled herself against it's trunk, a book spread open on her lap.

She stared down at the writing, but the words seemed distant to her, Allura hardly interested in reviewing her history lessons. She was more concerned with the situation facing the galaxy, Allura thinking on how close they were to eliminating the threat of the Keraclon once and for all. It chafed to be so close to a solution, and then be denied the answer, Allura frowning as she thought of Lotor and his smug demands.

Those demands had not changed, Lotor refusing to budge on his desire that Allura marry him. He was obstinate and stubborn, Allura holding back a sigh. She had always known how obsessed he was with her, but it was still jarring to be so near to that seemingly single minded focus of his. As such, she had spent the last two days going out of her way to avoid him, refusing all his requests that she come speak with him.

That didn't seem to deter Lotor, the Drule walking about the castle, trying to catch her alone and unaware. It was no wonder she had fled to the solace of her bedroom, content to work on her school work rather than deal with him. But reports kept flooding in, keeping her abreast of Lotor's whereabouts. He traveled just about everywhere he could, always escorted, though the castle's command center was completely off limits to him.

As far as they all knew, Zarkon did not know the current whereabouts of his son. Given the state of the Drule outpost, he might even assume Lotor was dead, and that bought them time when it came to dealing with Doom's King. Lotor was a tentative guest of the castle, but Zarkon would no doubt view him as a prisoner, and come to unleash his vengeance on Arus.

She knew Lotor had said that Zarkon would never negotiate for his release, but instead seek revenge against those who had taken his only son and heir from him. Now would not be a good time for an attack from Doom, not with Keith and Black Lion far from Arus.

It had been just hours after that horrid dinner date with Prince Lotor, that Keith had left. Some might say his mission was senseless, a wild goose chase that would not produce any results. Keith was almost stubborn in believing the opposite, his faith strong that he would find something, some glimmer of hope for Allura to grasp upon and be able to avoid marrying Lotor.

She was already grateful to Keith just for making the effort, Allura not holding hope that he would find what they needed. Keith had already been gone from Arus for fifty-five hours, endlessly searching planets, and moons, searching not for life but ruins. He kept in contact with Arus, calling in his reports every three hours. Sometimes she was present for his reports, but most times she left it to Coran to deal with. It was simply too much, to stare into Keith's grim face, the truth of his lack of findings apparent with his frustrated expressions.

She often thought back to the conversation she had had with Lotor, trying to block out the moments when he had made her choose to endure his attentions. Allura certainly didn't linger on the kisses he had pressed into her flesh, and when she did think about him pinning her to the table, she only felt anger. It made her fume to think this was how he was repaying her for saving his life, Allura wondering why he couldn't be grateful enough to just tell her what she needed to know!

She didn't understand why Lotor didn't feel a greater sense of urgency, why he wasn't compelled to do the greater good once in his miserable life. Was it the fact that the Keraclon were so far away from his home world, that allowed him the luxury to delay their defeat? Or was he confidant that Doom, such a brittle and inhospitable world would not catch the Keraclons' eye, that he need only work on protecting the holdings that made up Doom's Empire.

Such a selfish attitude was just one of a plethora of reasons why Allura didn't want to tie herself to Lotor, never mind what she feared the Doom Empire would do if they had access to Voltron. How much faster and ruthless would Doom's conquest be, if Voltron was not there to impede their progress but to help their advance? That thought had her shuddering, Allura angrily flipping through the pages of her book.

The rustling of the pages didn't disturb the peace of her gardens, but the sudden sound of footsteps marching towards her did. Allura frowned, knowing the gardens were her private sanctum. Few if any people would dare intrude when she was inside it's fragrant confines. A glance up showed who it was, Allura turning hostile with a glare.

"It figures you would intrude on me here!" Allura grit out as a greeting, snapping her book shut. She moved to stand, not wanting to have Lotor look down on her for the conversation that was to ensue.

"You left me little choice." Lotor said, maneuvering himself forward on his crutch. A discrete distance behind him was a castle guard, the man trying to pretend he wasn't eavesdropping on the words the prince and princess were saying. "You've been avoiding me for days, hiding in your room! Surely you did not think I would miss out on the chance to see you the instant you stepped out of your private quarters."

"Surely I did not, but I had hoped you'd have enough sense to respect me by keeping your distance!" She retorted. "Clearly that was a waste of faith!" She made a move as though to step past him, Lotor quickly blocking her way with the crutch. "Let me by!" demanded Allura, and Lotor shook his head.

"No, not yet. Not until we talk."

"I have no interest in what you have to say!" Allura snapped, one hand on her hip. "Not unless you are about to tell me how to defeat the Keraclon!"

"Have you decided to marry me?" Lotor asked, and she quickly shook her head no. "Then no, Allura, I will keep my secrets. To the grave if need be."

"Why must you be so infuriating?" She demanded, her anger increasing a notch at his smirk.

"It's part of my charm."

"Charming is not a word I would use to describe you." Allura shot back, incensed that her words did not wipe the smirk off his face.

"I'm damn plenty charming." Lotor insisted. "In fact, many women think so."

"All slaves no doubt, with no choice but to cater to your over inflated ego!" She retorted.

"Yes, I do keep slaves, but you do realize I do on occasion dabble with free women as well?" Lotor asked, arching an eyebrow at her. "I do so enjoy variety after all."

"That's not what I heard." Allura said, thinking of the descriptions he had given Lance of his harem slaves.

"Oh? And that is what?" Lotor questioned, a curious look in his eyes.

She kept her gaze locked with his, almost daring him to deny what she knew as truth. "That you have a certain type."

"A type? And that is a crime?" Lotor sounded amused as he asked that, still smirking at her.

"Well, no..." Allura admitted, then shook her head. "But it's weird...you're obsessed with blue eyed blondes, you even kidnapped my cousin because Romelle fit that type."

"I took Romelle because she made a valuable hostage." Countered Lotor. "The fact that she resembled you was just a bonus."

"That's sick!" exclaimed Allura, and Lotor laughed.

"No, it's me being honest."

"Hmph!" The tilt of head gave a haughty air to her demeanor, Allura eyeing him warily. "Romelle says you tried to give her a choice too. To marry her or be cast into the pit of skulls."

"I was half out of my mind with grief over your supposed death. You'll have to forgive anything I said and did at the time." Before she could utter a response, Lotor grinned, stepping closer to her. "You weren't...jealous were you?"

Allura's mouth dropped open in shock, for one long instant she was very determined to hit him with her book. She wasn't sure if the hard cover would knock any sense into that thick skull of his though, so she refrained that impulse. "Repulsed is more like it!" She retorted, but Lotor didn't look convinced.

"You can't imagine how relieved I was, how happy, when I had learned you had survived. That it meant we would have another chance to be together."

"We will never be together!" insisted Allura, fixing him with her iciest glare.

"You'll feel like a fool when you're proven wrong on that account." Lotor said, unaffected by the look she was giving him. "The Keraclon will be defeated, the Denubian Galaxy saved. And all because you agreed to be mine."

"Never!"

Lotor just tsked at that, looking almost tired of her protests. An awkward pause developed between them, Lotor turning to look around the garden. "Its very pretty here." He said at last. "I can see why you like it here."

"I'd like it a lot more if you were gone from here!" A snide Allura said.

"You wound me Allura." Lotor glanced back at her. "Is my presence so distasteful to you?"

"YES!" An exasperated Allura exclaimed, earning a faint, wistful smile from Lotor.

"We'll have to work on that. As my wife I expect and demand you to want my company, to enjoy it." She sputtered wordlessly at that, Lotor walking over to a

flowered hedge. She thought he meant to pick the lavender colored flower, but he merely bent to sniff it, enjoying without touching. "So different from Doom." He commented out loud. "A small slice of paradise right in your own backyard. Ah, how I envy you."

"Do you like flowers?" Allura asked, not sure what to say in response to his comments.

"I like anything that's this pretty." He answered, much to her surprise.

"Somehow flowers don't seem to suit you..." Allura muttered.

"Oh? And what does?" A curious Lotor asked.

"Blood and death." Allura eventually said after a lengthy pause. Another glimmer of a half smile, Lotor reaching out to finger the petals of one of the flowers. His actions were careful, a gentle touch that barely disturb the petals. "Isn't that what you Drules prefer?"

"Some of us do." Agreed Lotor. "My father most certainly does. But you'll find that most Drules much prefer drinking and sex to the violence of the battlefield." He straightened then, and turned back towards her. "You really shouldn't base your assumptions on the rumors and lies that fester on the lips of those who have been...defeated by the Drules."

Another faint smile then, Lotor nodding at her book. "I'm sure you're well versed on the rewriting of history that comes on the heels of a war. The winners try to embellish their side of things, and the losers always exaggerate the things that were done to them."

"But not all of the Drule's misdeeds are lies and exaggerations!" protested Allura. "I've been to some of the worlds you hold, seen the people, downtrodden and enslaved. Untold cruelties committed to them, at the hands of the Drule."

"An unfortunate necessity." Lotor answered breezily. "If they would simply submit when we first set foot on their world, we could avoid all manners of unpleasantness. Allura, take the time to study some of the worlds that prosper under Doom's rule. You'll find the treatment of the people much different there."

"Just because you're nice to some.." Allura began, shaking her head wildly. "It doesn't excuse the bad things you do to others!" His expression was disappointed then, as though Lotor had pinned many hopes on somehow making her see his point of view.

"I don't ask for forgiveness..."

"No, you just want my acceptance." Allura corrected. "And that is something I cannot grant you." She moved to walk past him, and the listening guard straightened, an almost guilty look in his eyes. She didn't reprimand the man for clearly eavesdropping on her conversation with Lotor. She was just grateful for his presence, sure Lotor had behaved himself only because of the watchful eyes of the guard.

"Allura." Lotor called out after her, but she didn't stop, and she didn't slow. She didn't want to talk to him anymore, Allura stepping quicker towards the castle's side door entrance. Even with Lotor's ease at using his crutch, he couldn't quite keep up with her fast pace, and she soon left him behind.

She didn't get far in her travel to her bedroom, running into Pidge near the stair case that led up to the floor that housed her personal chambers. It was apparent he was waiting for her, and his face was looking pale, eyes downcast and worried. Her already turbulent mood took a tumble downwards, Allura fearing the worse to see Pidge looking so depressed.

"Hello Pidge." She greeted him, and he moved to fall in step besides her. "What's wrong?"

"It's Keith." Pidge answered, and something in her stomach clenched. "He's found something."

"Oh?" That was all she said, Allura suddenly too nervous to find out more.

"Yeah...it's bad too." Added Pidge, with a sigh. "Coran asked me to come get you. To discuss Keith's findings."

"I understand. Let's go." Allura said, and Pidge began to walk her in the direction of the castle's strategy planning room. The rest of the Voltron Force was present, Hunk and Lance sitting in their usual seats at the large table. Coran was at the head of it, and behind him on the monitor was Keith, his expression grave. Behind him she could make out some kind of ruins, Allura's brow furrowing. Why did the broken remains of that building look so familiar?

"Ah Princess Allura, Pidge. So good of you to join us." Welcomed Coran, as the young pilot closed the door behind them. "As I'm sure Pidge has told you, the captain has found something...something disturbing."

"Disturbing?" Allura raised her eyebrows, troubled by Coran's choice of words. "What is it? And is that the Drule research facility?" She nodded at the screen, and was shocked by the silence that descended in the room. "What? What is it?" She wanted to know, and finally Hunk spoke.

"Don't you recognize that place Allura?"

She looked at the scenery behind Keith and frowned, noting the scorched earth, black stains on the pavement where something had burnt it's mark into the ground. There was no greenery dotting the landscape, no buildings in the distanced, save for a few stones that had somehow survived a blast strong enough to disintegrate most of the rubble.

"No, I'm sorry..." Allura started to say, then noticed a half broken plaque that was jagged end was charred black. It shouldn't have stood out, the bronze metal dirty, the writing almost illegible. But then she recognized it, the symbol that marked the broken building as property of the Alliance. Her eyes widened, her hand lifting to her mouth, Allura suddenly feeling ill. "No...what...?"

"It's what's left of planet Zegabob." Keith explained, and Allura gasped, recognizing the name. Zegabob had been the planet that housed the Alliance medical facility they had brought Lotor to. She was dismayed to think that within a handful of days, the planet had been reduced to this, the city, one of many she was sure, so much rubble on the ground.

"What, how?" Allura demanded, even as she had a sinking suspicion she already knew the answer.

"It was the Keraclon, princess." Coran stated. "Keith has been searching for signs of survivors, but so far...nothing."

She thought she might cry, so horrified was she. Everyone in the room was looking just as sad, heads hanging low, and Lance was gripping his mug of coffee so tight his knuckles turned white.

"They didn't just kill anyone they came across." Keith was speaking. "They took the time to burn the bodies, nothing but ash and husks left behind."

"There's not even enough remains to identify anyone..." added Lance.

"I did find something else." Added Keith. "The last known transmission of General Hristhine."

"Let me see it." Allura said, and everyone looked away from her.

"I don't think you should." Coran said. "It's...not suitable material for you, for anyone to see."

"What? Why not?" Allura wanted to know.

"He's ranting and raving princess. He's seeing hallucinations, and shitting himself in fear." Lance said bluntly. "It's not a good last memory to have of someone. And that's before the Keraclon enter and..." A poignant pause, Allura wondering what Lance had chosen not to say. "Kill him."

She didn't want to watch a video of a man being killed, Allura feeling a lone tear slip down her cheek. The sight of her upset seemed to settle it, the video would not be played.

"But why would the Keraclon attack Zegabob?" Pidge wondered out loud. "I mean...it's nowhere near the route they have been traveling. It should have been years before the planet fell victim to their attentions."

"They weren't here for the planet." Keith informed them grimly. "One thing Hirsthine made clear in his lucid moments was that they had come looking for something..."

"Something?" Allura asked, and her expression hardened. "You mean someone."

Keith slowly nodded confirmation, expression grim. "They're looking for Lotor, Allura. They're hot on his trail, no doubt determined to stop him from revealing what he knows. Hristhine said something about the Keraclon trying to hack the computers in order to access the memory banks. To check the recent transmission. They wanted to make sure no one else knows the secret to their defeat."

It took a moment for Allura to process all of the meaning behind Keith's words. "They were even checking the records to find out who had recently taken their leave from the facility...I worry that they might track those people down to their home worlds..."

"I'm more worried that they'll figure out Lotor is on Arus." Lance said, but Allura barely heard him. She had already spun on her heel, throwing open the room's door. Coran and her team mates cried out her name, demanding to know what she was doing, and where she was going. She didn't pause to answer them, breaking into a run, almost blinded by her emotions.

She remembered the nurses, the soldiers, the General and the patients she had visited with. She remembered all their faces, their laughter and their serious moments, thinking of the hopes and dreams they must have had. All gone now, their lives snuffed out as if they were inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. She was angry at that, almost to the point she wanted to cry, but more than that, she was angry with one person in particular, Allura knowing Lotor could have prevented those senseless deaths.

To Be Continued!

Michelle

Amanda, thanks! :D Ah...the princess and the pirate. I hope to get back to it, but it depends on a few things. Mainly I go for whatever fic idea is inspiring me at the moment.. Sadly inspiration died for that one cause it was one of the fics whose notes I lost when my computer crashed about two years ago. It was very depressing when it happened. I lost everything...I didn't write for at least a month, I was so depressed. My Valkyrie Profile fics got hit harder than the Voltron fics, cause I had about five work in progress chapters that weren't published ANYWHERE when my computer lost all it's data. I still miss my VP garden fic. I think I only lost one or two work in progress chapters for VOltron...but like with VP all my notes went kaput. So I had to work on what I can remember from the lost notes! T_T

KMS5665, yeah that does make sense to me. I like that reasnoning better than him being a clumsy oaf who somehow tripped. XD


	12. Chapter 12

She found him outside, Lotor still enjoying the tranquil beauty of her gardens, leaning not on his crutch but against the sturdy base of a tree. His eyes were half closed, Lotor seeming to bask in the sunlight that filtered in through the tree's foliage. It didn't seem right that Lotor seemed so at peace when her emotions were in turmoil, when planet Zegabob had been destroyed through his inaction.

The wrongness of it all translated into her voice, her tortured shout disturbing the quiet of the gardens. A flock of sparrows took offense at her cry, the little brown birds with the red tips on their wings, taking off for the sky. Allura barely noticed this, already running towards Lotor, who had snapped open his eyes, and was looking at her with a wary look.

He had a right to that look, Allura not stopping until she was standing before him. Even with her legs stilled, her anger and sense of helplessness translated into action, her right arm raising, hand moving super fast. It ended with a resounding slap across Lotor's face, Allura putting all her strength and anger into that blow. Lotor's head was rocked to the side, and for a second neither one spoke, Allura breathing heavily.

"What was that for?" Lotor demanded at last, slowly turning to look at her. His eyes were angry, he hadn't liked that she had hit him.

"For Zegabob!" Allura retorted, eyes flashing with her rage. "For all those innocent people that died at the hands of the Keraclon!"

"Zegabob?" She saw that he didn't understand, and that made her angrier.

"It's a planet!" She informed him. "It housed the Alliance hospital we brought you to. And now it's gone! Those people will never get the chance to help anyone again, and it's all your fault!"

"So now I am responsible for the Keraclon's actions?" Lotor demanded, and she snapped out an insistent yes.

"You are when it's you that they came searching for!" She was practically snarling then, voice still so loud it must be gaining attention from inside the castle. The guard that had accompanied Lotor to the gardens shifted, an uncomfortable expression on his face. "And not only for that!" Allura added. "If you had just told us what we wanted, needed to know, Zegabob might have been able to fight off the Keraclon. Those senseless deaths might not have happened. It's all your fault Lotor, all your fault!"

Her hands had curled into fists, and now she brought them down on his chest, leaning into him as she beat his flesh mercilessly. Lotor winced for a second, his good arm raising, hand grabbing her by the shoulder to hold her at bay.

"I'm not the only one to blame for this." Lotor pointed out, and she heard a commotion from behind her. She didn't turn, instinct telling her it was Coran and the Voltron Force, the group having finally caught up to her. "If anything, it's as much YOUR fault as it is mine."

"My fault?" She gasped, her shock apparent in her expression.

"Yes." Lotor nodded, ignoring the protests the Voltron Force had started to voice. "If you had only agreed to marry me sooner, then Zegabob's tragedy could have been avoided."

"You're blaming me?" Her jaw dropped at that, Allura hearing comments from her friends.

"The princess is not at fault for this!" Hunk exclaimed.

"Yeah!" The ever loyal Pidge vocalized his agreement. "She'd never let the Keraclon have their way if she could help stop it..."

"Ah but she could stop it...She just doesn't like the price she'll have to pay." Lotor pointed out.

"Can't exactly blame her for not wanting to be tied to you." Lance retorted. "Especially not with something as permanent as marriage!"

Allura had stopped trying to hit Lotor, just staring at him, her shock almost overriding her anger. Lotor kept right on gripping her shoulder, his distrust of her emotional outbursts apparent. "Don't you even care?" She finally asked, eyes imploring him to show something, some tiny morsel of concern or regret.

He did not, Lotor cool as he answered. "Zegabob was an Alliance world, was it not? That alone makes it not my concern."

Allura cried out, wrenching herself free of his restraining grip. She both wanted to hit him and spit in his face, Allura despairing at the confirmation of his uncaring nature. "How can you be so...so unaffected by what had happened? Lotor, they were looking for YOU! The Keraclon wanted you, and they didn't care who they had to kill to get you!"

"Do you want me to lie? Tell you pretty untruths to ease your suffering?" Lotor asked, his eyes looking so alien and unfeeling in the moment. "I can do that, but it won't change a thing. Zegabob is gone, just another planet for the Keraclon to abuse and abandon. No amount of regret will change that!"

"You're an unfeeling monster!" Allura snapped, Lotor hardly looking bothered by her insults.

"Hardly. Just a practical one."

"Prince Lotor..." Coran's turn to speak. "Please...the stakes have been risen. Your enemy is our enemy, and we must work together to stop them. Won't you tell us what you know? Now before any more lives are wasted?"

"Well, Coran, that all depends on Allura, doesn't it?" Lotor locked gazes with her, and Allura could only thank the Gods that he didn't choose to smirk at her in that moment. She might have killed him then and there, beat him to death with his own crutch, his knowledge be damned.

"On the princess?" She could practically hear the frown in Pidge's voice. "You're not still gonna try to make her marry you?"

"Lotor, you're taking this too far!" added Lance. "Lives are at stake..."

"Lives always were at stake." Lotor retorted. "Only now even more so with the Keraclon on the move."

"I hate you!" whispered Allura, glaring into Lotor's eyes. Nothing showed in them, the prince shielding his emotions well.

"You can grow to love me."

"That will never happen!" She swore, and fought to keep from hitting him with her fists again. "WE'LL never happen!"

"So that's a no then?" Lotor inquired, tone mild. "Ah no matter, I can wait. I have after all, an infinite amount of impatience when it comes to you Allura." He took his crutch from it's spot against the tree, and moved past Allura. She didn't try to stop him, just shaking violently in his wake.

"A moment your highness..." Coran spoke, still trying to be respectful to the prince. "I'm not sure you're aware of how grave the situation is..."

"I understand perfectly Coran." Lotor answered, Allura turning slowly to look their way.

"I don't think you do!" Coran responded insistently. "It shouldn't take long for the Keraclon to figure out where you are. They'll turn their search to Arus...bringing their brand of devastation with them. Do you want that?"

"No." admitted Lotor.

"Then tell us what you know!" interjected an impatient Lance.

Lotor flashed the brown haired pilot a dismissive look, glancing back towards Allura. "Tick tock Allura, time is running out."

She screamed then, and it was Hunk that caught her, the pilot of yellow lion preventing her from lunging towards Lotor. She had never hated as strongly as she did in the moment, Allura wanting to kill Lotor. He watched her struggle against Hunk's hold, Allura taking in a deep breath, it and her words expelling from her in a heated hiss.

"I wish I had left you to die!"

Coran was nervous, trying to keep some semblance of peace. "Ah, do forgive her. She...doesn't mean it. It's only the upset over learning about Zegabob that makes her highness speak to you in that way."

"No, Coran, she means it." Lotor retorted. "Allura's never been one to speak falsehoods." Head shaking, Lotor turned away, limping towards the door that lead out of the gardens. The instant he and his guard had vanished, Allura sagged in Hunk's arms, his hold going from restraining to supportive, the princess fighting back tears.

"I hate him!" She whispered hoarsely. "I really do."

"None of us are exactly fond of Prince Lotor." Lance pointed out, and that almost got a snicker of broken sounding laughter from Allura.

"Our feelings can't change what is happening." Noted Coran. "As much as I regret saying this, you may have to marry Prince Lotor..." He barely got the words out, the Voltron Force all crying out a no, Allura's voice the loudest of all. "I'm sorry!" exclaimed Coran, an apologetic look on his face. "But I am thinking of the good of Arus. Lotor's presence here puts us in danger, even now the Keraclon travel."

"We should just send him away!" Pidge grumbled. "Stick him in a prison somewhere."

"Wherever he goes, that world will be endangered!" pointed out Hunk. "Zegabob was a target just for harboring Lotor for a few days..."

"Which means Arus will be on their hit list, regardless if he stays here or not." A miserable Allura said.

"I think we should send him to Doom." Suggested Lance. "Let the Keraclon wiped out Lotor and that God forsaken world!"

"And all the innocent slaves too?" asked Allura, and Lance had the grace to look embarrassed.

"Well no...I wasn't thinking...not of them..." He admitted with a sigh.

"The problem is..." Pidge drew their attention to him, the boy looking disgruntled. "The Keraclon will assume Lotor is telling everyone he encounters the secret to their defeat. They'll attack Arus assuming we already know..."

"Then it's hopeless..." sighed Allura, still leaning on Hunk for his arm's strong support.

"It looks that way." Hunk said quietly.

"What are my options...to face a fate worse than death, or to let the Keraclon annihilate my people?" Allura mused out loud, pleased she didn't so much as sob one time.

"You'll have to make a decision and soon." Coran gravely noted. "If we are going to enter into a union with Doom, I want to have an iron clad treaty set in place to

protect our people."

"We've got bigger concerns than that at the moment." Pidge said.

"What do you mean?" A frowning Lance asked.

"Well, the weapon, whatever it is..." Pidge was nervously adjusting his glasses, sliding them back up his nose. "It will take time to mass produce it. The sooner Lotor talks, the better so we can have our lions and ships equipped with it." He sighed then, expression regretful. "Lotor wasn't that far off the mark when he said time is running out for us."

"Damn it!" Lance snapped, expression angry in the moment. "I'd like to kill that bastard with my bare hands!"

"You'd have to get in line Lance." Hunk retorted. "I've been hankering for the chance to give him my own five knuckle sandwich special."

Allura almost smiled at that, finding she was greatly cheered at the thought of Lotor suffering such abuse at her friends' hands. But the more pressing matter of the decision she had to make, was looming over her. It darkened her thoughts, and made her grow increasingly depressed. "What's Keith's status now?"

"Still sifting through the rubble on Zegabob."

"As much as I hate to say this, it's probably a wasted effort to continue looking for survivors." Allura said. "Please...ask him to continue his search for the Drule outpost..."

"You're still hoping to find it?" A surprised Lance exclaimed.

"I don't know if I have enough in me left to hope for anything." Allura admitted. "But we have to try, don't we? I can't just give in to Lotor without making an effort to explore our other options."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right..." Lance nodded in agreement.

"In any case, Coran I want you to secretly start preparing the paperwork for a potential alliance between Arus and Doom. Whatever happens, we can't allow Doom to make use of Voltron." continued Allura, straightening so that Hunk released her from his hold.

"I'll make it my number one priority." Assured Coran. Allura nodded, already moving, past him and her friends and towards the door that led into the castle. They watched her, but made no move to follow, Allura having the feeling they intended to continue talking once she was gone. She knew they were concerned about her, the situation Lotor forced them into leaving them all agitated and on edge.

As she reached the door, she turned back, looking not at her friends, but at the garden itself. There was so many happy memories here, Allura recalling how she had helped to plant many of the seeds with her own hands. The garden had been destroyed once, but she had help rebuild it, perhaps making it even more beautiful than the original one had been.

It had always been her joy, her pride, the key to her peace of mind. But now she took no comfort from it, Allura realizing the garden was just one more thing Lotor had ruined with his presence. She hoped and prayed the rest of her life wouldn't be similarly ruined, but Allura was rapidly losing faith in that, her future already seeming sealed, marriage to Prince Lotor looming on the horizon.

Sorry for the super short chapter...^^;;

To be continued!

Michelle

Amanda, thanks! Hee! The whole time I've been working on this fic, I keep calling this Lotor a smarmy scum bucket. He's so slap worthy! And selfish. And determined to get his way! XD And thanks for the sympathy over my computer problem. *hugs*


	13. Chapter 13

The window's curtains had been tied back, allowing the sun's rays to flood the room, bringing it's light and warmth to her. Allura barely felt the sun's warmth, a chill having settled bone deep within her, making her cold and miserable, shivering as she gazed out the window. The room's view was of the forest that separated the castle from the nearest town, the canopy of the trees extending for miles that seemed endless.

It was summer time, and thus the trees were at the height of their fertile brilliance, an emerald sea that guarded the secret life that existed within the forest. Allura couldn't help but think that if the Keraclon came and had their way, the trees would wither, their leaves turning a mottled gray, signaling the death of the planet. It wouldn't just be her people who suffered, the whole world would be in peril, the animals hunted, the very heart of nature in peril as the oceans dried up, and the land turned barren.

She had seen the reports on worlds that the Keraclon had left their mark on, the alliance sending garrison soldiers to investigate planets that had long since been abandoned by the Keraclon. No bit of life had been left, the earth salted and scorched, rendering it unusable to all. There would be no miraculous recoveries, no rebirths of those worlds, the Keraclon like lethal parasites that had leeched all the good out of the heart of the planet.

Allura couldn't bear to think her own world might suffer the same fate, that she might die or become homeless from the Keraclon's attack. It might be worse to survive the onslaught, Allura having to live with the knowledge that she could have saved her people and planet, all at the cost of her own future happiness. She heaved a sigh, just one of a million, the expelled breath doing nothing to make her feel better.

Nor could she concentrate on anything but the choice she had to make, the book she had brought with her, a bit of recreational reading, sitting unopened on her lap. She normally favored romances, Allura having day dream of a love worth envying. A love that was begginning to look like would be denied to her, Lotor's smug face appearing in her thoughts. His smirk made her shiver, Allura biting back a growl, once again damning him in her mind.

It had been twenty-four hours since that moment in her gardens, and Allura was aware of the time in a way that was almost unnatural. Each second of the clock ticking, bringing the Keraclon one step closer to discovering Lotor's current whereabouts. She couldn't delay indefinitely, time was simply against her, much in the manner that fate had seemed to turn away from her.

Allura was mourning the loss of her future, seeing the hopes and dreams she had had for herself being dashed against the rocks. Gone, and all because of Lotor's obsession, an obsession that made him selfish and ruthless when it came to getting the woman that he wanted. Allura hadn't always expected to be able to marry for love, her position as princess and heir to her father's legacy such that she could not afford that hope. But she had deluded herself into believing she would marry someone who would not only be beneficial to her people and world, but someone kind and caring, someone she'd be able to grow to love.

It wasn't lost on her that Lotor had said similar to her, the prince harboring some twisted delusion that she'd eventually get over the marriage he had forced her into. She was just as certain as she would not, Allura forever hating Lotor for what he had engineered. She knew something he apparently did not, that one could not force another to love them, no matter what they tried to do to gain that love.

Love was simply not an emotion that could be forced, though it could be feigned, perhaps as easily as one could confuse it with lust. Allura was positive Lotor did not love her, that he merely desired her more than he had ever desired a woman before, which left him confused with his feelings. He clearly wasn't used to being told no, into not getting what he wanted, and up to a point Allura had managed to do just that to him.

But the longer the time stretched on, the more it looked like her success at denying him was about to be put at an end. And that left her angry, Allura fighting the urge to fling her book at the window. It wouldn't have solved anything, save to give her a twisted satisfaction to hear the glass shatter.

She uncurled her legs from beneath her, Allura setting the book aside, and rising from her seat. She strode over to stand before the window, arms hugging around her for the warmth she could not attain. She didn't know how long she stood there, but after a while a second reflection joined her own, Lotor having entered the room. Allura held in her sighs, not surprised he had sought her out.

Especially when she had left the relative safety of her own bedroom, Allura not wanting to spend another minute cooped up inside those walls. Allura had known she was taking a risk in entering such a common area, but the princess had refused to become a prisoner in her own home. Even if it meant enduring another unpleasant conversation with Lotor.

Allura continued to stare out the window, watching as Lotor limped forward with his crutch. He had to know she was aware of him, and yet he didn't speak, leaving it up to Allura to break the silence. She did so with a sigh, arms still crossed over her chest. "It's beautiful isn't it?" She inquired, a nod of her head at the forest beyond the window. "The forest I mean."

He drew up besides her, the side of his body brushing hers as he followed her gaze. "Yes." He agreed, tone softer than she was used to. "It is."

"It's painful to think all this could be destroyed..." Allura continued, keeping her melancholy expression in place. "That the very life of the planet is in danger..." Lotor said nothing to that, Allura risking a side long glance at him. "It would be criminal to allow that to happen. Lotor..."

"Allura don't..." He turned to her then, his good arm raising so he could press a finger against her lips. She endured that touch, searching his face for some kind of understanding. "Don't waste your breath. You won't change my mind. Not from this."

"How can you say that?" Allura demanded, taking a step back from him. "How can you look at this landscape and not want to save it?" She gestured with her arn at the forest, her emotions swirling, a desperate kind of anger rising to the forefront. "What must I do? What must I show you of Arus, to convince you to save it?"

"You know what you must do." Lotor replied. "You've always known..."

"Why? Why must it be THAT!"

"Because I love you." He answered bluntly. and she shook her head. "Yes, I do."

"You don't even know what the word means!" She exclaimed. "Lotor, have you ever loved anything or anyone in your entire life?" She took his silence to mean yes, Allura continuing. "See, you don't know...you can't know..."

"Just because I've never been in love before..." interrupted Lotor with a frown. "Doesn't mean I can't recognize what I feel now!"

"It's not love!" An adamant Allura insisted. "It's only obsession and a sick lust. And do you know how I know? Because if you loved me, you wouldn't take away my choice. You wouldn't try to force me to be with you!"

She had shouted the last, Lotor staring at her, his eyes turning unreadable. "There are many kinds of love." Lotor said at last. "Some are more powerful than others. I'm not the type of man to sit back and pine away for someone. Maybe your captain would, but not me. I go to extremes to take what I want, and that doesn't lessen my love in anyone's eyes but your own!"

She had a feeling this was a conversation that would go nowhere, and yet Allura couldn't seem to drop it. "Your idea of love HURTS me." Another shake of her head, Allura's voice lowered but no less heated. "Love isn't supposed to cause pain, not to the one you love! But everything you do, seems designed to do just that!"

"I think you don't understand love anymore than you claim I don't." Lotor muttered in retort.

"At least I can say I've felt love!" She snapped back. "I feel it everyday, for my friends, my family. I give it and receive love in return. Who could ever love you?" Allura saw Lotor's jaw clench, her words had struck a blow to his heart. "Lotor..." She stepped back towards him, Allura daring to risk touching his arm. "Don't consign us to both be miserable...end this...tell me what you know, so we can fight back our enemy!"

"If I had to choose between two miseries, I would choose to spend an eternity of torment with you by my side, rather than the anguish of doing without you in my life!" Came Lotor's stubborn answer.

Allura dropped her hand from his arm, unnerved by the look in his eyes. He had been heated yes, but he had spoken with conviction, as though he truly believed in what he was saying. "It seems we are at an impasse..." She said out loud. "Neither one of us is truly willing to budge..."

"But one of us will have to." Lotor pointed out. "And it won't be me!"

Allura feared he was right, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him. It left her quiet, just staring at him, the waves of hopelessness coming over her. She resumed hugging herself, hands rubbing her arms in an attempt to ward off the chill Lotor had caused. He didn't seem bothered by her silence, content to just gaze back at her. It was how Lance found them, the brown haired pilot bursting into the room.

"Princess I..." He trailed off, looking at how close they stood to one another, their gazes heated and locked on one another. "Whoah, didn't mean to interrupt anything..." Lance added, when Lotor turned and openly growled at him.

"You're not." Allura assured him, moving to step away from the window. Lotor grabbed her by the arm, his touch drawing her to a stop. "Lotor..."

"I know you don't believe in what I feel...but at least consider the possibility of being more open minded towards me."

"I make no promises." Allura retorted, extracting her arm from his grip. She hurried towards Lance, the pilot gesturing for her to follow him out of the room. It was only once they were in the hall, that she drew a relieved breath, Allura smiling at Lance. "Thanks Lance...I needed the break from him." Lance didn't smile back at her, nor did he make any jokes. In fact his expression was worried, the pilot barely able to meet her eyes. "What is it?" She asked, fear gripping her insides suddenly.

"It's Keith. Lance said, and she instantly paled. "He's..."

"He's what?" She prodded him, when he fell silent.

"Damn it, he's encountered the Keraclon!"

Allura instantly paled at Lance's words, a hand coming up to cover her open mouth. "What? How? When?"

"Just a few minutes ago!" Lance explained, and grabbed hold of her hand. He pulled her into a run, and soon enough Allura realized he was leading her to the castle command center. "He was in the middle of one of his reports, when the a whole armada of ships appeared on the horizon!"

"Oh no!" She cried out, running even faster. "Did they see him?"

"He was kinda hard to miss..." Lance said, the doors to the castle command center within view. Already the guards were pulling them open for the pair, Allura and Lance running into the room. Coran did not turn to greet them, standing with his hands clasped behind his back as he gravely watched the scene on the view screen. Hunk and Pidge were also present, and they glanced at her arrival, but said nothing. There was simply no words, the room filled with the sounds of lasers being fired, and explosions occurring in mid air.

Through out it all, they could hear Keith moaning, at time babbling in a fear stricken panic. Apparently out of respect for the captain, Coran had cut the view of the inside of black lion's cockpit, to spare Keith the embarrassment of being seen so frightened. But his voice was enough to convey that fear, Allura wanting to clamp her hands over her ears, to block it out.

"How many are there?" She demanded, staring at the ship filled screen.

"The armada is composed of seventeen smaller fleets." Answered Coran. "Each capable of holding thousands upon thousands of fighter craft..."

"Thousands?" Allura gasped, and her pity and fear for Keith increased. She had been up against perhaps a handful of Keraclon, how much worse must it be to face thousands of them? If even only half of them were projecting the fear, it might be enough to drive one man insane, and it left her amazed that Keith hadn't already crashed black lion into the asteroid belt he was currently weaving his lion in and out of.

"Keith!" Hunk was shouting, trying to get through to the captain. "Damn it, calm down and listen to me! You have to get out of there. Engage hyper drive at once!" Keith never answered him, the captain continuing his screams, the pilot haunted by hallucinations. Even with the fear driving him, he continued to fight and fly, though his attacks weren't coming close to hitting the Keraclon's ships. Keith was simply too focused on shooting down those fear driven hallucinations, and Allura feared it wouldn't be long before he came to a messy end.

"Keith!" Allura screamed when a photon beam hit him, black lion veering off it's erratic path to slam into an incoming asteroid. For one long moment, black lion just lay there, the smaller fighter craft of the Keraclon circling the moving asteroid. They fired lasers at black lion, mercilessly in their attacks. "GET UP! GET UP!" She urged him, taking a step towards the view screen as if she could somehow join him on the battle field.

But it was his private battle to fight, Allura and her lion too far away to help him. The Keraclon ships continued to blast black lion, the rocky surface exploding into dust around him. When Keith moaned, it was then that Allura realized the crash had silenced his voice, rendering him unconscious. With his return to wakefulness, his screams and fears resumed, black lion moving jerkily to rise up off the asteroid.

"Come on Keith!" Lance was shouting encouragement. "You gotta get away. You can do it. Just engage the hyperdrive..."

"Lance...?" Keith's voice startled them all, a rare moment of clarity within all the fear he was experiencing.

"I'm here man! Just type in the coordinates, and make the jump!" urged Lance.

"I don't know if I can...they're here...they're all around me..." Keith moaned, and then screamed. "Oh Gods, I want to die!"

Allura had a morbid fascination that was urging her to find out just what exactly Keith was seeing. He had always been her brave captain, seeming unflappable, laughing in the face of terrors that would turn others away. That even he could be so scared of something made her frightened. For him and for them, Allura realizing all their hopes were indeed lost.

"Keith...come home to us..." She begged him, clasping her hands together. "It doesn't matter anymore. You don't have to keep searching, or fighting. Just come back to Arus."

"Allura, do you mean it?" Hunk was asking, and she nodded.

"I won't have him put himself in any more risk...I'll...I'll marry Lotor..." She nearly choked on that last one, watching as black lion crashed into a smaller craft, the explosion creating a dark cloud around both ships. "KEITH!"

Suddenly Lance was shouting, all but snarling. "Damn it Captain, this is an order! Engage hyperdrive at once! I don't give a damn what war you think you're fighting, or what you think you're seeing, it's not real!"

"Lance..."

"DO IT KEITH!" commanded Lance, and Hunk and Pidge raised their voices in agreement. The three pilots began talking about their experiences at Garrison, attempting to somehow distract Keith from whatever nightmare he was seeing. Their voices formed a soft but insistent cadence, admiration apparent when they talked about some of the things Keith had accomplished.

"I remember when we ended up on Doom." Hunk mused. "Beaten, branded as slaves, and tossed in a dungeon to be forgotten. A lesser man would have given up when faced with those things. Heavens know I almost did. I would have, we all would have, if not for you pushing us."

"You got us through that dark moment." Added Pidge. "You kept us going, and you got us off that planet."

"We owe a debt of thanks to you, one that might never be able to be repaid. But damn it, we're gonna try! So you have to get up off your ass, and get out of there!" finished Lance, his emotions strong in his voice.

Keith had seemed to quiet down to listen to them speak, and now they all held their breaths, waiting to see what would happen next. The Keraclon continued to fire on him, determined to bring down black lion. Minutes would pass, the only sound Keiths' exaggerated breathing. And then, the tell tale glow around the lion, hyper drive being engaged.

A cheer went up through the room, Allura turning to Lance, and hugging him hard. She wanted to cry tears of joy, so happy was she that Keith had managed to think through the fear long enough to make his escape. The cheering lasted for a brief moment, the view screens going black. They could hear and see nothing, and that worried them all.

"Coran! What does this mean?" Allura demanded, hoping it was just Keith's embarrassment that caused him to cut off communication with them.

"One moment princess." Coran said, fingers flying over the console's control panel. His face gave way to a frown, Coran not meeting any of their eyes.

"What is it?" Lance wanted to know. "What is it you're not telling us?"

"Coran..." Allura prodded, and he reluctantly looked up.

"I've lost track of the captain." Coran said, to gasps all around. "He didn't manage to enter a full destination into the flight plan..."

"You mean..." Allura was unable to finish, the thought too horrific.

"He entered hyperdrive unprepared!" Pidge moaned. "Oooh that's bad. He could end up anywhere, maybe even die!"

"Don't say that!" exclaimed Allura. "Keith wouldn't die...he CAN'T die!"

"Shit!" Lance swore, pounding a fist against the wall. "Coran, can you get a lock on where he might have ended up?"

"I...I don't know..." admitted Coran. "Why?"

"Because I'm going to go look for him!" announced Lance, then turned to Allura. "Sorry princess. I know you probably need all the moral support you can get at this time, but I can't abandon Keith. Or leave black lion out there for the Keraclon or the Drule to get their hands on!"

"I understand." Allura assured him. "Just...just find and bring him home. Bring them both home!"

"I will." Promised Lance, as Coran raised the chute that would lead to red lion's lair. Allura gave Lance's hand a squeeze, and then he was off, jumping down the chute without so much as a word.

"There he goes..." murmured Hunk, Allura nodding numbly.

"Princess..." Pidge was besides her now, eyes worried behind his glasses. "You're not serious about marrying Lotor...are you?"

"I have no choice." Came her whispered reply, her voice full of sadness. She was already turning away, not wanting to catch the looks of pity in her friend's eyes. She heard Coran murmur something about getting all the paperwork ready for her signature, but she barely reacted. She was too consumed with the knowledge that she had to seek out Lotor, and give him the terms of her surrender.

To Be Continued!

Michelle

Lotor Sincline, I laughed when you reminded me of the tick tock comment. XD And thank you! This Lotor is extra fun to write! XD

Christine, the Dark Rose Maiden, whoo hoo! You finally got a chance to read! And wow, so much you had to say! I love it! It's a lot of pushing and shoving on Lotor and Allura's part, both trying to get the upperhand. XD And Lotor is winning this fight! Ha ha! XD Ah Keith...he's having a rough time, first that he has to let Allura be near Lotor, and now he encounters thousands of Keraclon while trying to find the secret to their defeat. I ALMOST feel sorry for him. The short and backless dress demand of his always makes me smile. It's so totally him to want her to dress sexy for him! XD

*giggling* Imagine how much worse the dinner date would have been if he wasn't recovering from his injuries? XD He's such a naughty man...yeah, it would make for a short story if he ran off with Allura and let her home world get destroyed. or maybe not, cause can you imagine the conflict and fights they'd have if he did that? She'd be so angry and pissed he let Arus get wasted. And he's being very selfish even if he doesn't do that, since yeah he knows what's at stake. The Keraclon are looking for him, and eventually they will figure out where to go. So he's really pushing things, and endangering them all! The big dope! The secret to the Keraclon's defeat, well there is at least one clue in an earlier chapter, though it's very vague...I mean, i don't feel the clue was that obvious, so it's not one of those you'll smack yourself and say "How did I miss that?" Or maybe not a clue, but a very small hint of what is needed. It's hard to explain without spoiling the later chapters...

I'm glad you and Lotor Sincline didn't mind the short chapters. I always feel so guilty when a chapter ends up short. =/ I'm trying not to feel that way anymore, but sometimes I slip up anyway and apologize for the length. -_- An interesting thing about this story is it's all from Allura's POV...keeps everyone wondering about Lotor. XD I have another idea where I think that story would have it be all from Allura's POV, which would serve to not only keep the Voltron Force guessing about Lotor, but the readers as well! Really, this fic, the Keraclon one, I don't think would have worked quite so good if we knew Lotor's POV, since we'd know about whether or not he's bluffing about the knowing the secret to how to defeat the Keraclon's fear waves. There's another thing that would be a spoiler, but if we had had Lotor's POV, it wouldn't have been possible to do either! So overall I'm pleased at keeping it all Allura's POV even if sometimes I want to write a thought from Lotor's view point. Such as the aftermath of that thing I said would humble Lotor! But alas...we have to view Lotor from Allura's eyes for this story. XD


	14. Chapter 14

Lotor was still in the room she had left him in, although his position had changed. He stood not by the window, but sat seated in a nearby chair, the book she had been reading open in his lap. Allura tried not to flush at the thought of him reading one of the steamy romances she favored, worrying he would get the wrong impression of her. Not that she thought such a thing would discourage him from her, if anything it might make him more ardent in his pursuit of her.

A pursuit that was almost ended, Allura trying not to clench her hands into fists as she reminded herself of the reason for seeking him out. She could already picture the smug smile he would flash her at the news, Allura condemning herself to an uncertain future as his bride. Just the thought of his gloating made her want to run away, but Allura knew she couldn't do that.

Nor could she afford to delay things for much longer, Allura entering the room. The guard that was always present with Lotor met her eyes and offered up a bow, Allura nodding at him. "Gaston...could you give the prince and I a moment alone?"

Lotor looked up from the book at that, the surprise showing in his eyes. He knew as well as she did that Allura was loathe to be alone with him, ever since his show of aggression during their shared dinner.

"Of course princess." Gaston the guard said, and moved to leave the room. Allura waited until he was gone, to shut the door, the princess wanting no eavesdroppers to overhear what she was about to say. It would simply be too mortifying to have more than one witness to her surrender to Lotor.

"I'm surprised you want to be alone with me." Lotor said, closing the book. He set it aside on the stand next to the chair, and reached for his crutch. He began to struggle to stand up, Allura making no move to help him.

"I needed to speak with you." She answered. "And I thought it better if we did away with any staring eyes."

"Ah now, that has me curious." Lotor said, at last standing up. "Whatever could it be, that you have to say?"

"I would think that you would know." Allura retorted. "That you would already have some inkling of an idea."

He gazed at her, a considering look in his eyes. And then he was turning, looking out the window. "I saw in the far distance what looked to be a lion launching. Red lion from the looks of it...tell me, what is the urgency that sent Lance flying?"

She blinked slowly, not expecting that question. "You know that Keith has been gone from the castle...?" They hadn't exactly tried to keep Keith's leaving a secret, nor had they bothered to inform Lotor of the reason behind his absence.

"Yes. He's kind of hard not to notice his absence." Lotor chuckled humorlessly. "Always glaring and angry, so hostile to me."

"A hostility some would say you earned." Allura quickly pointed off, but Lotor just shrugged.

"So tell me Allura, just where is the captain? And does Lance hurry off to aid him?"

"Keith's mission was to find the remains of the Drule outpost. To search out the research facility, and see if he could find any leads." Allura explained, and saw the confidence fill Lotor.

"He wouldn't find anything." Lotor did not grin, though he was sure of what he was saying. "The Keraclon are too good at wiping out traces of all life and activity...and with what's at stake, there's no way they would leave even a drop of evidence behind."

"It was still worth a shot!" Allura insisted, still staying by the door. "We had to try..."

"Yes, I suppose you did." Agreed Lotor. "And by the sound of it, you've realized how futile that try was."

She hesitated, then let out a deep breath. "Keith encountered a Keraclon armada."

"A pity for him." Lotor said.

She noted he didn't ask if Keith was still alive, either uncaring or assuming that the Keraclon had finished the captain off. "He managed to engage hyperdrive." Allura continued, watching Lotor's expression turn unreadable. "But there was complications..."

"Don't tell me you lost him?"

Allura nodded. "Seems that way. Which is why Lance took off in a hurry. He's gone to search for Keith. To bring him back if he can.."

"I don't care about the captain." Lotor stated bluntly. "But I do hope black lion is recoverable."

"Why? So you can try and use Voltron in your dreams of galactic conquest?" demanded Allura, shaking her head no. "I won't allow you to. Even if I can change nothing else, the one thing I can make sure of is that you and your father never lay hands on Voltron with the intent to do harm to another world!"

"You won't allow me to?" He arched an eyebrow at her. "Then what will you allow?"

It was the perfect opportunity to admit to the reason she had come to him, Allura remaining rooted to the spot by the door. "An alliance between our two worlds." She said at last. "A peaceful joining, where both worlds thrive, neither one the master of the other. Doom will get no slaves from Arus, and if your father wants some of our natural resources and exports, he'll have to pay my people a fair price for their time and efforts."

"What about us?" Lotor hardly seemed interested in what she had said, eyeing her now. She didn't try to feign ignorance towards what he meant, Allura biting her lip uncertainly.

"I know there can be no alliance between our worlds without...certain things being done." Allura admitted, her tone bitter now. "So yes, Lotor. I will marry you."

He didn't smirk like she expected, though heat flared in his eyes. "If that's true..." He did an awkward gesture, pointing to the floor before him. "Then come here Allura."

She frowned at him, making no move to obey. "You do not get to order me around!"

"Ah but I do have a right to want my bride to be to stand with me, not cower with the distance of a whole room between us!" Lotor countered. She bristled at that, Allura knowing she may have been trying to keep herself safe from him, but she was most definitely not cowering. "Besides..." added Lotor. "You'll have to get used to my nearness and more."

"More?" She echoed with dismay.

"We'll be a married couple, and all that entails." Lotor told her, and she wondered if it was his kindness to her that he didn't go into explicit detail. But still she didn't move, and Lotor expelled a deep, frustrated breath. "You'll have to let me touch you eventually..."

"I'll honor my marriage vows but I won't let you touch me a moment before we are officially wed." She retorted, knowing that was the only way she might be able to hold on to her sanity. "It's probably more than you deserve, and I doubt you will show the same courtesy to me!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lotor demanded. "You think I won't honor the vows we exchange? That I will be unfaithful?" She didn't say anything, but her silence

seemed to goad him on, Lotor walking towards her, agitation rolling off him in waves. "Damn it Allura, why do you always think the worse of me?"

"Because you show me nothing but your worse side!" Allura retorted. "I don't even think any goodness resides in that black heart of yours!"

He frowned at her, Lotor slowing to a halt before her. She felt boxed in by the door, but made no move to evade him. "Perhaps I've been...unkind in the past." She made a scoffing sound at that, Lotor flashing his fangs at her in his annoyance. "I'll just have to work to show you there's more sides to me than just the one you're familiar with."

She didn't doubt it would take a lot of effort on his part to even come close to proving her wrong about this. Allura didn't even know if she was willing to discover another side to him, wanting to hold onto her impression of Lotor as a cold, evil hearted bastard.

"You don't look like you believe me." Lotor noted, and she shrugged.

"It doesn't matter what I believe." She spoke quickly, noting Lotor looked ready to object. "Now, the information if you please. I want to get to work right away replicating this...weapon, whatever it is, that works against the Keraclon."

A long pause followed, Lotor just studying her. She shifted, uneasy and annoyed by the attention. "Lotor? Tell me already!"

"No. I don't think so." Her eyes widened, Allura frowning at him. "Not until after we are wed, and have...consummated the marriage."

"More of your conditions?" She demanded bitterly, and he smirked then.

"Call it a precautionary measure on my part."

"I don't break my promises, unlike you!" Allura retorted.

"And yet I get the feeling you would break this one if given half the chance." She fell silent at that, wondering if Lotor was right. Would she really become so dishonorable if it meant escaping him? "So no, Allura..." Lotor continued. "I will not be blabbing any secrets just yet."

"Damn you!" She spat out, feeling a burning wetness in her eyes. She blinked rapidly to dispel the tears before they could fall and further mortify her, Allura glaring angrily at Lotor.

"I suppose that advisor of yours is drawing up the proper papers for this union?" Lotor asked musingly. "That's good." He said to her numb nod, Lotor smiling. "I'd like to be wed before this day is over with."

"So soon?" Allura grit out, but knew they really couldn't afford to delay. Lotor knew she knew as well, the prince giving her a patronizing look.

"I know you would love to have a long engagement, but we don't have the time, nor do I have the patience to wait it out." He leaned in closer to her, Allura's back bumping against the door as she tried to avoid him. "Besides, I think the last two years have been torturous enough." He fixed her with a look, almost chiding as he spoke now. "You tire a man's patience with these drawn out flirtations, this playing hard to get."

"I wasn't doing it to flirt with you!" An enraged Allura exclaimed, thinking Lotor was delusional if he believed that.

He ignored her protest, reaching for the door. "I'd like to call my father now."

"Your father?" She squeaked out as the door was thrown open. Gaston was standing there, red faced and flustered to have been caught trying to eavesdrop. Lotor gave the guard a reproachful look, but otherwise ignored him.

"Yes, to share our good news." Lotor said, and gestured for her to precede him out the room. "I'm sure he'll be ecstatic over our impending nuptials..."

"Ecstatic is hardly the word I would use..." muttered Allura, stepping out of the room. Lotor followed her, his pace much slower due to his twisted ankle.

"Besides...I'm sure he's been worried about me." Continued Lotor. "He might even think I am dead...it will be good to dispel him of that notion."

"I didn't think Zarkon was the kind of father to care..."

"Oh, he probably doesn't, not in the normal sense of the word." Lotor hardly seemed bothered by what he was saying. "But I am his only heir, and the leader of his armies...It would be a double blow to lose both."

She couldn't imagine the kind of world he came from, the kind of environment he had grown up in. To have a father, and not have that man care for you, love you, seeing you only for the things you could do for him. It made her grow quiet, Allura escorting Lotor to the room she and the Voltron Force often used for strategy planning sessions. There was a view screen inside it, it's connection strong enough to make interplanetary calls.

She looked questioningly at Lotor, the Drule Prince rattling off a long number. "It's the direct line to my father's private study." He explained. "Not many know this number, and few would dare use it if not for a serious matter."

Allura shivered, not wanting to dwell on thoughts of what Zarkon did to those who bothered him with what he did not consider serious. "I see..." She started to input

the number, but paused on activating the call. "How's he going to take the news? I mean...how will he handle it, seeing you by my side?" She wasn't about to leave him alone, not when there was a chance he'd tell Zarkon about the weapon.

"He'll manage." Lotor smiled. "It'll take a lot more than our marriage to give the old man a heart attack."

"He'd need a heart for that first." She muttered, activating the call. Lotor gestured for her to come stand beside him, and she did so reluctantly. The monitor of the view screen flickered, loud static and snow flickering before the image settled. They had to wait a good fifteen minutes before Zarkon deigned to pick up, and she nearly jumped back at the sight of his angry face.

"Lotor!" A hot rush of words sped out of Zarkon's mouth, the evil King speaking not in Basic but in Drule. He barely seemed to notice Allura, his attention all for his son.

"Father, calm down." Lotor said, doing the slightest of bows. "As you can see I am fine, and in relatively good shape." More of the Drule's language from Zarkon, Lotor letting out an airy, unconcerned chuckle. "In basic if you please. So my...host doens't feel left out of the conversation."

Zarkon's eyes narrowed, the King taking a good look at Allura. Neither one of them smiled, Allura's face stormy and upset as Zarkon glared at her. "Is that Princess Allura of Arus?" Zarkon demanded, and Lotor nodded a yes. "Hmph, I thought it was one of your regular sluts. You know those whores all look alike to me!"

Her cheeks flamed at the reminder of Lotor's obsession with blue eyed, blonde humans, but wisely she kept her tongue still. "So Lotor! Where are you? And are you her prisoner, or is she yours?"

"Does it look like either one of us is under guard?" Lotor asked, and Zarkon snorted.

"No, but she certainly looks miserable enough to be your prisoner!"

"Well, she's not." Lotor retorted. "And neither am I hers. Though I am in her gentle care." Another smile then. "Father, I have good news for you! I..."

Zarkon interrupted him, seeming not to care for Lotor's good news. "Did you tend to the matter I sent you out on?"

Lotor sighed, seeming put out by Zarkon's question. "Yes father. I have."

"And were the results as we expected?" When Lotor nodded, Zarkon switched to Drule, expression demanding. He frowned when Lotor shook his head, the prince speaking in Basic. "I will tell you soon enough but not until after the wedding."

"What wedding?" Zarkon demanded, forgetting to speak in Drule.

"Why mine and Allura's!" Lotor said, and smiled at the princess. She didn't return the smile, just gazing angrily at him.

"I thought you said she wasn't your prisoner!" exclaimed Zarkon.

"She's not! However...we came to agreement. Her hand and her planet, for the information I possess about the Keraclon."

"You told her about the Keraclon?" Zarkon was angry and aghast, pounding a fist on the arm rest of his chair.

"Oh not yet. Not until after the wedding. Until then I won't be telling anyone what I know. You understand, can't risk the word traveling over the airwaves and being intercepted by those who would...betray us."

Zarkon grimaced then, Allura realizing the King agreed with Lotor, but didn't like it. Neither Drule wanted to chance such sensitive information being broadcast to the so called wrong ears. They failed to realize Allura would blab it all to anyone who would listen, thus ensuring the entire galaxy was safe from the Keraclon's threat.

"Now, Allura's advisor Coran will soon be sending over the official documents of both our marriage, and the alliance we've made. Do go over it at your leisure." Zarkon grumbled something in Drule at that, earning another smile from Lotor.

"Calm down father, I'm sure you'll like what I've done. It's a treaty that's mutually beneficial to both our worlds."

"It better be." A threat was blatant in Zarkon's voice, his gaze still so hostile and angry. "Hurry up and marry her Lotor. I want you on the next ship to Doom! I won't have any more delays when it comes to dealing with the Keraclon."

"Of course father...I will leave for Doom as soon as it's feasible."

"You better." Warned Zarkon, and the communication abruptly shut off. A tension Allura had not been aware of, left Lotor, the prince noticeably relaxing. But she

couldn't, Allura whirling to face him.

"You didn't tell him about the lions!"

Lotor waved a hand, as if it was unimportant. "We'll deal with that bit of unpleasantness when the time comes. Until then, let my father harbor his delusions about using Voltron to advance his empire."

"He's not going to be happy about this, or the fact you kept it from him!" pointed out Allura.

"He's NEVER happy." Lotor grumbled. "Always bitching and yelling, complaining about something or other. This will just give him new fuel to his anger." She shivered, thinking of the people, the slaves who would most likely suffer for Zarkon's tantrums. "Besides, we have more important things to worry about."

"The Keraclon." Allura said automatically, but Lotor laughed and shook his head.

"No, more like what are you going to wear to the wedding." She blinked, hardly pleased he could worry about such an inconsequential thing. "A bride needs a dress, though I must admit I'm more concerned with what you'll wear under the gown."

She flushed, flustered and tempted to hit him. She was both surprised and yet not, that Lotor could be so concerned with such an unimportant thing. "It doesn't really matter." She insisted. "None of it matters..."

"I suppose it doesn't." Lotor agreed after a pause. "The wedding is generally just a load of money wasting frills. The ceremony that binds us together is the important part." A saucy grin then, Lotor's eyes dancing with wicked merriment. "As is the consummation of those vows."

She didn't bother to dignify that with a retort, Allura angry and spinning on her heels. She heard Lotor's laughter, his chuckles chasing after her into the corridor outside the room. There were guards here, and at a word from her, one moved to take Gaston's position of escort to the prince. Allura couldn't do it, feeling she couldn't stomach more than a few minutes at a time in Lotor's presence. That made her worry, Allura wondering how she was gonna handle not only being married to Lotor, but having to do things with him, and stomach him doing those same things to her.

To Be Continued!

Michelle

Christine, the Dark Rose Maiden, I'm grinning over your enthusiasm for this fic! Heh...Lotor causes a lot of conflicting feelings with the way he acts in this story. I love it! XD You make a good point about there being a vulnerability, and this need for love in him. He'd rather hold on to her, and have her despise him, then not have her at all and pine away. But unrequited love is tough...(And now I feel a plot bunny hopping around after that sentence...)

OH! Thank you so much regarding the love how I write. I'm happy to hear that, so happy! I'm pleased if I can do a good job and make people happy with my stories. :D I hope you do get a chance to catch up on the other ones. I postd the final chapter of Divine Misunderstandings not too long ago!

Lotor Sincline, I couldn't help giggling at your little slip up at calling Lance Keith's lover instead of friend. XD Though I don't have any plans to make Lance be that to Keith! XD Speaking of Keith, Angel Suriel thought maybe Keith would find a petty Drule scientist (A female one) on his journeys. It's always interesting to see the theories people come up with. Ah...the quickie wedding ceromony is next chapter, along with the start of the consumating of the vows! XD

KMS5665, actually...I'm not sure if that line means he knows about Keith's potential feelings for Allura. Or if he's just making a snide comment about the type of man he thinks Keith is. In my opnion, Lotor looks down on someone who doesn't act on their feelings, that they sit back and stay silent about the person they love!


	15. Chapter 15

It had been well into evening before a priest could be found and brought to the castle, and to Allura every minute the wedding had been delayed was a blessing in disguise. She had been loathe to relinquish her freedom, especially to a man as foul as she found Prince Lotor to be. This forced marriage of theirs, only helped to reinforce Allura's low opinion of the Drule prince, and she couldn't begin to imagine how much more she would hate him once this farce led them to the bedroom.

Currently they were lingering in the castle's ball room, the large chamber far too empty for it to be believed a royal wedding had taken place there. But there had been next to no time to send for guests, and truthfully Allura hadn't wanted to encourage any celebration of what she view as her life being signed away. The people who lived and worked in the castle had felt much the same, many choosing not to attend.

In the end, it had only been a small handful of people present, Coran acting in her father's role, to walk her down the hurriedly construed aisle. Pidge, Hunk and Nanny had sat in the front rows, all wearing somber expressions as they watched her be escorted down the aisle. When the time came for Coran to hand her over to prince Lotor, the advisor had hesitated, the Drule turning impatient and reaching for Allura's arm. She had tensed at his uninvited touch, and a staring contest had seemed to occur over her head, Lotor's gaze a direct challenge that suitable cowed Coran into letting go.

With that act, Lotor ushering Allura to stand before the priest's podium, Nanny had lost the last vestiges of her restraint. She burst into loud, raucous tears, her sobs seeming to echo in the cavernous room as Hunk fumbled to produce tissues for the woman. She all but snatched them from the pilot, dabbing at her eyes, and blowing her nose loudly.

As noisy and distressed as Nanny was, it didn't stop her from vocalizing her disgust over the situation, the woman complaining loudly about the unfairness of it all. She sniffled and sobbed over Allura's poor choice in groom, and bemoaned Lotor's lack of decency and concern for the galaxy's safety. She made such a commotion, it was difficult to hear the priest's words, the somber faced holy man having to repeat himself several times.

The actual ceremony was short, a bitter sweet affair. Allura had chosen to avoid a long, drawn out exchanging of vows, all for the fear her legs might not be able to keep her upright for the time needed to stare into Lotor's gloating eyes. He had been the only one to smile during the ceremony, Lotor somehow oblivious to the distress he was causing.

Or maybe, Allura's dark thought whispered as she watched Lotor toss back yet another celebratory toast. Maybe he had ENJOYED the distress he was causing. She certainly wouldn't put it past him, Allura shivering as she glanced at the time clock, the minutes counting down the hours. These past few days, she was always aware of the time, and now even more so, Allura knowing that at any moment Lotor could insist on ending this mockery of a celebration.

Her stomach was clenching continuously in anxiety, Allura unnerved at the thought of being alone with Lotor, of having to submit to his desires. She had never imagined such a thing would actually happen, her luck had always been such that she managed to evade all his traps. How unfortunate for her that he had finally found the right bait, goading her with the fate of an entire galaxy.

She didn't want to go to bed with him, anymore than she had wanted to marry him. And yet one part of her knew that the sooner they got this unpleasantness over with, the sooner he would give up his secrets. She'd rest somewhat easier to know that the planet's scientists and engineers would be hard at work on using that knowledge to devise the weapon that would help them fight against the Keraclon.

Allura wasn't a blood thirsty person, she certainly didn't want to encourage the destruction of an entire race. But the Keraclon were monsters, leeches and parasites that killed not only people, but whole worlds. It just didn't seem possible to forgive them their crimes, any more than it was possible to allow them to live and continue their reign of terror.

Loud, pure masculine in sound laughter sounded, Allura blinking out of her thoughts to see Lotor shaking with his mirth. No one else was laughing, leaving Allura to wonder just what the prince had found so funny. Nanny was giving him a dirty look, her mascara smeared around her eyes, making her resemble a raccoon. She had stopped crying, as though she had run out of tears, and only had her anger left.

Allura could understand that, though she had not shed one tear during this wedding debacle. Not even at the moment when she had had to pledge herself to Lotor, the prince sliding on a simple gold band on her finger. There had been no time to get anything fancy, the rings being purchased from a jeweler who lived in the same town as the priest had come from.

Clothes had also been a problem, there was nothing even remotely formal that was available and could fit Lotor's massive Drule frame. Allura had plenty of pink in her closet, along with a few black dresses she had worn one too many times to funerals of close friends lost in the war with Doom. She almost wore one of the black gowns of grieving to the ceremony, intent on sending a message of how she really felt about the wedding. But her mind had been changed when one of her maids pointed out that black was a color favored by Drules for important occasions, including weddings.

In the end she had gone with a simple pink dress, the shade as light as the hue could be without turning white. Allura had always imagined she'd either choose her own gown, or wear her mother's perfectly preserved dress. But there had been no time for the first, and she didn't want to dishonor her mother's gown by wearing it in front of Lotor.

With a sigh, she drifted over to the table where a small amount of refreshments had been laid out. It wasn't the typical feast of an Arusian wedding, the cooks having no time, and Allura feeling no incentive to waste money on such a miserable experience. There was only a few plates of food, mainly deserts, and a selection of drinks, including a brandy Lotor seemed to favor.

She didn't know if it was good or not that he was drinking, Allura wondering if he would become even more overbearing if he ended up drunk. An ill humored thought hoped the brandy would inhibit his actions, Lotor taking her once and quickly, before passing out and leaving her to a brief relief.

She reached to pour herself a glass of juice, and was dismayed to see how badly her hands were shaking. It rattled the pitcher, the liquid coming dangerously close to sloshing over the sides. Allura hoped no one noticed, quickly pouring herself a drink, then turning. She nearly choked on the juice, finding Lotor was staring at her, an expectant look in his eyes.

She closed her eyes for one brief moment, feeling the shaking of her hands extending to the rest of her body. He couldn't mean for them to leave the ball room now, could he?

"Allura..." Her eyes snapped open at his silky purr, Lotor still staring at her. Only now he was gesturing for her to approach, the man leaning heavily on his crutch. "How long are you going to continue to hide yourself from me?"

Coran and the others busied themselves with conversation, pretending not to notice the exchange between prince and princess. Allura slowly finished her juice before answering, her head lifting high. "You think I'm hiding? In plain sight?"

"It's easier than you think." He replied, and gestured again. She sighed as if this was the most annoying thing he had yet to ask her, Allura dropping her glass on the table before moving to his side. Tucking his crutch under his arm, Lotor balanced precariously to reach out and tug on a stray curl that had escaped her bun. The move was playful, and it left Allura bemused, blinking rapidly at him.

"I think it's about time we start saying our good-byes." His words made the bottom of her stomach drop out, Allura feeling nauseous.

"So soon?" She managed to sound calm, a direct contrast to the panic she was feeling inside.

"It won't be soon enough for me." Lotor purred, winding the curl around his finger. He pulled, and it resisted, the curl bouncing free of his finger. "And really, Allura, how much longer do you expect me to wait? To continue to make useless conversation with these people?"

"If I could, I'd make you wait until Hell freezes over." Allura hissed softly in reply.

He tsked then, Lotor shaking his head. "You and I both know we can't put off the inevitable forever. We're MARRIED now."

"I don't need the reminder of that." Allura retorted, her despair leaking into her voice. "You've gotten what you wanted..."

"Not yet I haven't."

Heat flared in her face, an angry blush adding color to her otherwise pale skin. "Must everything be about sex with you?"

"Why must you assume everything comes back to that?" Lotor demanded, and reached out with his hand to press a finger on her chest. He tapped it against where her heart laid, an odd look in the prince's eyes. "I won't be satisfied until I have your heart. But I suppose I'll make do with your body for now."

"You're despicable!" Allura jerked back from him, but didn't turn and run as her first impulse told her to do. She merely widened the space between them, glaring angrily at him.

"Name calling won't change the situation." Lotor told her. He adjusted his grip on the crutch, and for a second let his weariness show. "Allura, for one night can't you put aside this one sided animosity that exists between us? Can't you just..."

"Just what?" She asked, curious as to what he had been about to say when he trailed off.

"Can't you just play at being a loving wife to me?"

"I wouldn't know where to begin to accomplish such an enormous falsehood!" Allura retorted, and he frowned.

"Say your goodnights Allura. I won't be kept waiting any longer." With that he maneuvered himself over to the priest, extending his hand for a handshake. Allura could hear him thanking the priest, though the holy man had looked ill at ease for that which he had had to do.

Somber faced, Allura approached her friends, moving to pull Nanny into a hug. The woman was just as fierce, nearly lifting Allura up off the floor as they embraced. "I can slip some pills into his food." Nanny whispered in her ear. "Doctor Gorma says they are ultimately harmless and will not only knock him out, but give him no memory of this night."

Allura let out a distorted sound, it was meant to be a laugh but came out a choked out sob. "Oh Nanny, no." She shook her head, a watery smile on her face. "Thank you, but...sooner or later it will happen. I'll have to...give myself to him."

Nanny paled, her red eyes standing out noticeably against the black ring of mascara around them. "He doesn't deserve you. He doesn't deserve anyone!" Reluctantly she let go of Allura, though she stayed near, as though her watchful eye could somehow protect Allura from her husband. Coran approached, and the hug he gave her was more reserved than Nanny's, but no less affectionate.

"Stay strong princess." He advised, seeming too choked up to offer any more words.

"She always does." Hunk replied, and Allura reached out to clasp hands with him. "I know we tend to underestimate you, but you've always shown extraordinary strength as well as grace under fire. I know this isn't the fate you'd ask for yourself, but I've no doubt you'll come through it, a better person."

"Thanks Hunk." Allura said, then reached to touch fingers with Pidge. The young boy looked close to tears, and he seemed to be struggling with what to say. "Oh PIdge." Allura sighed, thinking she might loose it if the boy did indeed start crying.

"I'm sorry Allura...I don't mean to add to your upset." He apologized. "It's just, I can't stand what happened...if only we had had more time. I'm sure the Alliance and Garrison's scientists could have come up with something. I mean how hard can it be if the Drules discovered this weapon, whatever it is?"

"Are you saying you humans are smarter than we Drules?" Lotor suddenly demanded from behind Allura, Pidge stiffening in response.

"I'm just saying if the solution was capable of being discovered once, it could have happened again. There should have been no reason for Allura to bargain herself away to a monster!"

"Pidge don't..." Allura said, and shook her head no. "Don't waste your time. Don't let him goad you into saying anything more."

"But..." Pidge looked ready to protest, but it was Lotor who spoke, voice smug.

"You heard your princess' command. Now obey it."

"Come on little buddy. There's no point in wasting your breath on him." Hunk said, steering Pidge away from Lotor and Allura. Nanny seemed to sniffle, her hand reaching out to touch Allura's arm one last time before she and Coran also walked away.

"Come Allura, it's time we leave."

"Fine." Allura said through clenched teeth, and moved to walk out of the ball room. Lotor hurried as fast as he could behind her, though his pace still dragged considerably. Finally he chuckled, surely trying to insert some humor into what was about to happen.

"Slow down Allura! I know you're impatient to be one with me but..."

She scoffed at that, Allura giving him the evil eye over her shoulder. "Nothing could be further from the truth." But she slowed down, allowing Lotor to fall into pace besides herself. They walked the rest of the way maintaining silence, Allura neither wanting to talk to or listen to anything Lotor might have to say.

Even with her slowed pace, they reached the bedroom all too soon, Allura roughly throwing open the door to the room that had been Lotor's for the past several days. She couldn't bear the thought of bringing him back to the bedroom that had been hers since her childhood, Allura not wanting him to defile it's memories in the same way he defiled her body.

She was saved from a despairing moan by the sound of the door closing, the lock being engaged. She whirled around to glare at Lotor, finding he was smiling at her, eyes holding a decidedly predatory look as he leaned against the shut door. "Alone at last." He said softly, and she blanched, imagining his words held more threat than she had previously thought possible.

"Come now Allura, don't give me such a look." Lotor said, his words a gentle command. "I am your husband now..."

"Husband by force, and not of my own choice!" She reminded him, and he sighed.

"Will you never forget that?"

"No, never!" She insisted, and his eyes flashed with annoyance. But he beat back down to resume smiling at her, Lotor holding out his hand to her. She stared at it as though it was a snake, one who had bared poison coated fangs at her.

"Allura, you have to make the first step eventually." Lotor told her. "And right now, all I ask is that you take my hand."

"Is that really all you ask?" Allura demand suspiciously.

"Just take my hand, and let me lead." Lotor amended, hand still outstretched. He was putting all his weight on the door, crutch propped under his arm. She stared at him a moment longer, weighing her options, then sighed. Begrudgingly she nodded, rasing her hand to brush fingers against his. He didn't immediately seize hold of her hand, instead closing his fingers slowly around hers.

"There now." Lotor said to Allura. "Was that so bad?"

"...no..." A moody answer, Allura knowing the worse was yet to come. Lotor's smile grew, and now he tugged her against him, Allura trying to avoid brushing against his broken arm. His uninjured arm moved, raising her hand to his face. She stared in confusion when he forced her to touch his cheek, Lotor seeming to sigh and close his eyes in exaggerated pleasure.

"Don't move your hand." He told her, letting go of her so that he could brush his fingers against her cheek. Bemused, she allowed this, studying his face as he caressed her cheek. His fingers stroked back towards the unruly curls, sweeping those loose hairs over her ear. He then took the time to trace the round curve of her ear, the sensation a bit ticklish though Allura did not giggle.

One last touch on her ear, and then Lotor resumed stroking her cheek. His thumb extended towards her lips, brushing the fullness of them with that calloused pad. It didn't ease the tension in her, Allura watching him and feeling confusion by his actions. "What are you doing?" She demanded, when his thumb lifted from her lips. "Why are you wasting time with this?"

"Shhh..." Lotor bent forward, pressing his forehead against hers. "Isn't it nice Allura? To be touched?"

His face was too close to hers now, Allura narrowing her eyes at him. "You think to trick me!" She snapped. "To try and tame me with your fake gentleness!" She went to jerk back from him, and his hand dropped towards her arm, grip bruising as he hauled her back against him.

"It's not fake!" He insisted, easily holding onto her despite her struggles. "I only wanted to show you...to prove to you it can be good between us!"

"I don't want it to be good!" Allura retorted, her voice laced with pain and anger. "I want it to be over with!"

His eyes flashed, dark and unreadable in the moment. He always shielded his emotions in this manner, especially when he didn't like what she had to say. "I will not be rushed, not for this! Not for you!"

"If you had any real feeling for me, you would heed my wishes and do what is needed in as quick a manner as possible!" Allura retorted.

"You should consider yourself lucky my feelings are so strong for you." His tone was dark and ominous, almost threatening.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Allura asked.

"Nothing. Just forget it and kiss me." He ordered, and she glared harder at him. "Allura, you said once we were married, you'd not fight me when it came to your wifely duty."

She seethed at that, hating Lotor for throwing her earlier words back at her. "Fine." Allura hissed, and went up on tip toe. Even in her anger, she was careful to avoid pressing against his sling, not wanting her weight to put unneeded pressure on his injury.

Allura had meant to keep the kiss short and chaste, just a quick brushing of her lips against Lotor's. She should have known better, his hand clamping down on the back of her neck, Lotor holding her in place as he deepened the kiss. Fuming, she endured this, but not without a protesting squeal. Allura tried to ignore how soft his lips felt, Lotor moving them artfully against hers.

But it was no gentle kiss, she could feel the barely restrained passion within him, calling to Allura's memory of the kiss he had stolen just before she went to face the Keraclon. Just like then, his mouth completely covered hers, possessive and commanding, with an undercurrent of need that still left her surprised. She wondered how many women he had had to practice on to get so good at kissing, Allura's thoughts reminding herself she was just the latest in a long line of blondes as far as Lotor was concerned.

Thinking like that only fueled her resistance, Allura trying to flatten her lips into an angry line. It was difficult to maintain, Lotor's tongue licking across that seam, tip trying to pry them apart. She refused to make it easy for him, her hands coming up to shove at his chest, but even with his injuries he was like immovable rock.

Allura didn't know how long he worked at getting her to open to him, but his impatience reared, Lotor suddenly jerking on her hair. It was no gentle tug, nor was it exactly brutal. But it moved her enough to gasp, and when she did that, his tongue immediately swept inside her mouth. Allura wasn't sure she liked the sensation of Lotor's tongue moving about her mouth, even if it's movements were sensual and with a purpose.

Another protesting sound from her, Allura trying to step back from him. He followed her, hand keeping them connected, and it was then she heard something slam into the floor. Lotor didn't seem to care about that sound, but she did, and it was with a brush of her teeth against his tongue, that she got him to break the kiss. Allura quickly took the time to look down, and saw that his crutch had fallen and was responsible for that sound.

Breathing heavily, Allura felt Lotor's fingers catch her chin. The prince raised her up, directing her attention back to him. His eyes were like twin, golden flames, the heat in them nearly staggering her back. "Let's take this to the bed." He said, and it was no suggestion he offered her. Allura could only swallow nervously, and nod, wondering how much more she could endure.

To Be Continued...

Next chapter the rating goes up...but ya'll aren't shocked by that, are you? :o

Michelle

Christine, the Dark Rose Maiden, thank you. Glad the story still has you in it's grip. We're getting closer to Lotor revealing what he knows (He reveals in 17 and wait till you see how!) about the Keraclon. All will come into light! Hopefully it doesn't disapoint! ^_- The wedding night is rough for Allura...emotionally and mentally, even a little physically as Lotor gets a little carried away once the act starts. Much to Lotor's disapointment, she won't just fall in love with him cause they had sex. ^^;; It's hard to talk about Zarkon's reactions without spoiling something major. So you'll excuse me if I keep quiet in that area, won't you? :) Heh...Lotor doesn't care about Keith except to mock him about the marriage and to get the lion back! XD Hee hee!


	16. Chapter 16

Lotor hadn't let her retrieve his crutch, the prince insisting she herself personally help him to their bed. Allura had felt put upon, grudgingly supporting Lotor much like she had done when they had been trying to escape the Keraclon. But it was different this time, Lotor stronger, and nothing was chasing them except her own fear of what would happen when they reached the bed.

With Allura's help, Lotor lowered himself onto the mattress, making a satisfied sound. She quickly stepped back, making sure to keep out of his reach. He seemed too busy settling himself against the many pillows placed against the bed's headboard, but eventually he spoke. "Help me get my boots off."

It was the last thing she was expecting, and relief nearly flooded her. Allura nodded, wordless as she moved towards his feet. Those boots of his were one of the only things that had been salvaged from his uniform, the leather strong and sturdy. Zippers were on the side, Allura easing them down, then tugging the boots off his feet. She showed extra care to his one foot, Allura not wanting to irritate his twisted ankle.

Setting the boots on the floor, Allura purposefully made sure to remain at the foot of the bed. She needed that space, need the comfort it's illusion gave her. It calmed something within her, even as she knew Lotor could shatter her peace with just one word, one look.

Instead of saying anything, he patted the spot to the left of him, Lotor's smile pleasant enough. Quickly, she shook her head, denying him this small thing. His smile faltered, Lotor looking exasperated. "Allura, we can't do this with you on the other side of the bed!"

"Don't you think I know that?" She demanded, her tone matching his.

"Well, truthfully I'm not sure what you know of the act we're about to do." Allura didn't know what to make of Lotor's admittance, that he thought her that naive a virgin.

"I know enough." She finally said, and Lotor arched a brow at her. She immediately flushed, Allura hurrying to explain. "I've read books on the matter. And I've heard some of the maids talking..."

"Have you now?" Lotor wondered, and Allura nodded, still blushing. "Well, Allura, I'm sure you think you know everything, but I bet you're not prepared for the reality of a lover...especially one that is a Drule."

He was right about at least one thing, Allura having never, ever dreamed her husband would be a Drule. Even one that was half breed, Allura well aware of the difference in size Lotor had in comparison to a human male. He towered over her in all matters, Allura's face about even with his chest. His reach was much longer than hers, and when he had held her hand, his had dwarfed hers.

Lotor grinned at her silence, which only earned him an angry look from her. Allura actually crossed her arms over her chest, presenting a stubborn front to Lotor. He shifted on the bed, his movements careful and slow. But it was enough to get her to flee, Allura leaping off the bed's edge, and moving to stand across the room. With his crutch still by the door, he'd have a difficult time of catching her, Allura having no pity for his twisted ankle.

A sigh and a frown followed her actions, Lotor's arm extended towards the spot she had vacated. "How do you expect me to make love to you, if you won't even hold still long enough for me to touch you?"

She let her mouth set in a stubborn line, Allura refusing to admit her nerves had gotten the better of her. She had had a fight or flight reaction, Allura choosing to run rather than lash out with violence.

"Allura..." He sighed, then tried again. "Allura, I can understand you're scared..."

"I am not scared!" She interrupted him, though they both knew that was a lie. The fear was there, layers of it coming out to override much of her anger. But not all of it, Allura torn between screaming and crying.

"There would be no shame in admitting to your fear. Not in this." Lotor told her, and his kind tone was nearly her undoing. She didn't want that, didn't think she could bear it if she broke down, anymore than she could stomach his false kindness.

"I faced the Keraclon." She announced, trying to draw strength from her words. "I faced the nightmares they had shown me, and I survived intact. You think a little, insignificant thing like bedding you could possibly compare to that? That it would break me somehow?"

He did not bristle at her insult, at least not outwardly, Lotor staring at her for one long, considering moment. She wouldn't fidget under his gaze, instead staring her own challenge at him. "Then come here." He finally said, and held out his good hand to her. "Prove to me how unafraid you really are."

Not breaking the gaze they shared, she reluctantly moved, loathe to do this, but goaded into showing him her bravery. It took an immense act of will power to walk those steps to the bed, to not tremble under his gaze as she reached out with her own hand, fingers grazing his a moment before he grabbed her. It was an unbreakable grip he had on her hand, Allura knowing enough to not try and fight it.

Nor did she fight when he pulled her down onto the bed, her other arm coming forward to stop herself from completely falling against him. Allura ended up hovering just a scant two inches above him, their faces close enough that their breaths mingled. Lotor didn't smile at her nearness, expression too serious for that. It was an intense look he wore, concentration focused entirely on her, and that made her shiver back in awareness.

"If I let go of your hand...will you flee?" Yes, no, maybe. They all came to mind as potential answers, and it must have shown in Allura's eyes that hesitation, for he sighed then, heavy breath washing over her. "Then I won't. Not for now. But...you'll have to work with me then."

"Work with you?" She echoed with a frown.

He nodded. "Kiss me Allura. Kiss me and don't hold back."

"There's nothing to hold back." She retorted. "I don't have any feelings for you except anger. I certainly don't have any passion to give you."

"You're wrong on that." Lotor insisted. "It's there, lingering just under the surface. You always been a passionate woman, about so many things. Why should this be any different?"

"Because I don't love you!" Allura all but shouted in his face. His eyes narrowed for a second, Lotor annoyed. But when his expression cleared, he was calm, speaking with some of the passion he claimed she too was capable of.

"I have enough love for both of us. That will be enough...for now." He decided.

"You're a damn fool." Allura told him, leaning her face the rest of the way into his.

"Never about this." Came Lotor's answer, his head lifting off the pillow to meet her before she could change her mind and back off him. She didn't gasp at their lips' contact, or even at the jolt of static electricity the kiss rose in them. Nor did she try to jerk back, Allura holding herself still for Lotor's lips. None of that so called passion he felt in her rose, Allura not moving her mouth in time to Lotor's urgent ministrations.

She was cold, and unfeeling except for negative emotions, and even the warmth of Lotor's mouth couldn't break the ice shield she was building up around her. Allura shivered anew, well aware that wherever he touch her, from his lips, to the fingers locked around her wrist, heat rose off him in waves. The cold she felt should have made her want more of that warmth, but instead Allura shied away from him, a helpless sound escaping her.

Lotor merely kissed her harder, at one point nibbling on her bottom lip, giving it a playful tug. He was doing everything he could to encourage a response from her, and she wondered how long it would be before he grew frustrated by her lack of response.

When his tongue prodded the seam of her closed lips, Allura dutifully parted them. It never seemed easier to kiss him, to endure the alien sensation of his tongue moving over hers, a wet velvet caress that served to make her only want to sob. Even more so that he was an expert at it, strokes sure and confidant, never faltering even at her lack of participation.

He still managed to steal her breath away, Lotor keeping the kiss going for longer than she thought possible. And while he allowed her the chance for air, Lotor hardly was content to stop kissing her. His lips kissed away from the right corner of her mouth, going up high on her cheek and towards her ear. Every press of his lips was like the moist flutter of wings, and she oddly liked that sensation.

His kisses ended up behind her ear, Lotor using his tongue to trace the curve of it. And then he was speaking, a silky whisper she only heard for his lips were right next to her ear. "Did you know that a Drule's ear is highly sensitive?"

"No."

"It has to do with the length, the extra space that allows for more nerves." His breath tickled over her skin, Allura shivering again. "It feels amazing when one uses their tongue on a Drule's ear." His tongue flick out, Allura doing her best not to gasp and jerk back. "And when one sucks on the tip of it...why Allura, you could drive a Drule wild if you did that right."

"Why do I get the feeling it's not your ear you want me to suck." She managed to say, tone dry and her face flushing red over it. She felt even more embarrassed when Lotor let out a throaty chuckle, the prince purring out an answer.

"Well, there's that too."

She was furious then, not with him, but with herself, Allura feeling there was no need to give him any additional ideas. Not that she didn't think he could come up with such a thing on his own, but Allura didn't want to draw his thoughts away from kisses right now.

Lotor continued to laugh, and now he left her ear alone to kiss down the side of her face. His lips traced over the line of her jaw, each press soft but insistent. And then he was kissing just under, the skin there feeling especially sensitive. She must have made some betraying sound or gesture, because Lotor lingered there, Allura fighting not to bite down on her lip in response to the kisses.

It seemed the flesh of her neck was a stretch of overly sensitive flesh, each kiss there tingling. At times Lotor would lick instead of kissing her, and the wetness he left behind made her shiver when he blew on that patch of skin. "You're pulse is racing Allura." Came his sudden comment. "It's like a frantic bird trying to escape it's cage."

She didn't know what to say to that, so Allura kept quiet. It was then that Lotor decided to taste her pulse, tongue laving attention on that spot an instant before he fastened his lips in place. Allura was surprised at how good that spot felt, and as he began to suck insistently at her skin, seeming in time to the beat of her own pulse, she let out a whimpery sounding moan.

Lotor actually purred, a deep rumble of pleasure that made him sound like a cat. The sound relaxed her somewhat, Allura letting her eyes fall close as she started to lean against him. It was a mistake, the more she unwound, the more she forgot herself, Allura falling against Lotor's broken arm. Abruptly the suction of her neck ended, Lotor hissing in pain.

Startled, her eyes flew open, Allura hurriedly rolling off him. "I...I'm sorry!" She exclaimed, red faced and embarrassed. Lotor had let go of her wrist so that he could cradle his broken arm in it's sling. The sight made her feel awful, Allura almost pitying him then.

"It's okay." Lotor insisted when he had stopped hissing. "This is just gonna take some getting used to."

"This is not gonna work..." Allura decided. "You're injuries are such that we shouldn't even be attempting this."

"I am not going to let a broken arm stop me from making love to my wife!" Lotor snapped, looking frustrated when she added the following.

"Don't forget a twisted ankle. Lotor...you can barely stand without that crutch. How do you expect to..." The blush grew hotter on her face, Allura stuttering. "To you know..?."

"I don't have to stand anymore than you do." Lotor retorted, then tried for a smirk. "We'll just have to be careful."

"Careful..." She fixed him with a doubting look, Lotor gesturing for her to come back to the bed. She did so, albeit it reluctantly, Lotor lifting a hand to her face.

"Yes, Careful..." His hand smoothed back along her cheek, fingers going into her hair. "Careful and creative at times."

Oh boy, she didn't even want to know what he meant by that last one, Allura just staring at him. Lotor laughed at the look she had on her face, his fingers having stroked over to the pins that trapped her hair into a bun. He began pulling the pins out, on by one, letting them fall to the bed as he worked to unravel her hair.

"Much better." Lotor said when he was done, her hair a shimmering cape down her back. "I so prefer your hair down to that prudish bun you almost always wear."

"It's not prudish!" Allura protested. "It's practical."

"Practical is boring." Lotor decided, his fingers still playing with her hair. He stroke down as far as it reached, the ends caressing over her bottom. She almost jumped when he goosed her rear, Allura squeaking out a protest.

"Lotor!" He laughed and did it again, Allura frowning at him. "Stop that!"

"Come, let's figure out how to get you out of your dress." That made her lose all her heated color, Allura paling. Lotor surely noticed, though he didn't say anything about her change in color. Instead he concentrated on finding the fastenings on the back of her dress, Lotor's fingers fumbling as he tried to work the claps open with one hand. "I think you'll have to strip for me..."

"Strip?" She gave him a dismayed look, Lotor nodding.

"I'm afraid my actions are limited with this broken arm of mine."

"That broken arm never stopped you before..." She muttered, and got off the bed. Lotor smirked, and settled more comfortably against the pillows, his golden gaze centered on her as she chewed on her lip uncertainly.

"Any time you're ready Allura." He told her, and she flashed him an angry look.

"If we wait for that, then this will never happen." With an angry sigh, she reached behind her, finding the clasps and struggling to open them as quickly as she could. It was more difficult then expected, the claps a fancy design that had been done up by one of the maids. But somehow she managed, the dress loosening around her torso.

When Allura moved to hurriedly peel off the long sleeves, Lotor called out, the look in his eyes stopping her. "Let me..." She didn't necessarily want him to touch her, Allura warily retuning to the bed. Limited to one arm, it made her undressing slower, Lotor sliding off one sleeve than the other, the short slip she wore underneath the dress revealed. "More pink?" He asked amused.

"Don't you start!" She retorted, tone vicious in the moment.

"Hmmm..." Working together, they got the dress off her legs, leaving it balled into a heap on the floor. Her slip was much shorter than the dress, barely reaching to cover her thighs. Lotor placed his hand on the inside of one, fingers stroking the skin there. It made her flesh break out into goose bumps, Allura shivering. Lotor shifted up right, moving to kiss the back of her shoulder.

His teeth caught at the thin straps of her slip, Lotor tugging it downwards, then doing the same to the other one. It left the slip sagging, her breasts starting to be revealed. His hand left her thigh to grab the front of her slip, Lotor hauling it downwards so that it pooled around her hips. She shivered and did not fight the urge to cover herself, Allura blushing again.

"Allura..." Lotor's hand was on her shoulder, trying to turn her to face him. "Let me see."

She shook her head no, blonde hair falling forward to help obscure her breasts. Lotor was insistent though, his hand demanding as he tried to forcibly make her turn around.

With a sullen look on her face, she did so, and Lotor used his good hand to brush back all her hair. "Lower your arms..." Lotor commanded, Allura hating that she trembled in response to that order. She closed her eyes as her arms went down, so missed the look in Lotor's eyes. But there was no mistaking the hiss of pleasure he let out at seeing her breasts.

Nor could she ignore the way his one hand cupped her right breasts, seeming to test the weight of it. "Perfect." Lotor sighed, sounding far too happy in the moment.

"I'm not perfect!" She countered, eyes still closed to block out the smug satisfaction she was sure he had to be wearing.

"To me, you are." Lotor's breath was on her skin, she quickly snapped open her eyes in time to see him placing kisses over the top of her cleavage. His hand continue to hold her one breast, and now it began to do gentle squeezes, fingers flexing and kneading. It was odd, and yet perversely felt good, though Allura couldn't completely relax so long as she was half undressed around Lotor.

"Tell me Allura, have you ever touched yourself?" The unexpected question had her blinking owlishly at him, a moment before his words registered.

"Of course not!" She snapped, and he smiled.

"What, never?"

"No, never!" She insisted, and his smile widened.

"Then I'm about to usher you into a whole new world of sensations."

She didn't like that grin, and really didn't like it when he kissed over her nipples, the tips seeming flat and unresponsive. She ended up hissing in surprise when he licked her there, a tingle emanating from where his tongue wetly stroked across her flesh. Occasionally he would purse his lips around her nipple, doing a gentle suck that added more of that tickling sensation.

She immediately tried to jerk back, finding his hand was on the small of her back now, holding her in place as best he could. Jolts of something hot and warm whipped through her, a line of it seeming to extend from her breast to her groin. Allura made a sound, and Lotor smiled knowingly at her, but did not speak, choosing instead to continue licking his tongue over the tip of her.

Damn him, but her nipples were reacting to that insistent attention, the flesh stiffening, giving him more to tease. His tongue seemed to curl around one, Lotor brushing his lips over it again and again before popping it fully into his mouth.

"AH!" Allura's hands immediately flew up, clamping over her mouth too late to stifle that cry. Lotor stared up at her face as he sucked on her breasts, and if it was possible Allura would have died of mortification.

Stony glare aimed down at him, Allura could only kneel there and watch as Lotor continued that torturous assault on her sensitized flesh. He worked over her nipple continuously, popping it in and out of his mouth, letting the air hit the wetness on her skin. Then he would suck it back in, tongue rubbing over it, Lotor grazing his fang's tips gently over that bit of flesh. His lips pulled on it, and when he decided the nipple was properly loved, he switched to her other one, showing the same care and attention to it.

Her breasts were aching, Allura finding her nipples too stiff, the discomfort only appeased by the warmth of Lotor's mouth. And soon even that wasn't enough, Allura finding she was feeling hot and needy all over, especially down between her thighs.

It made her fidget, Allura uncomfortable with the tickling sensation that was so insistent in her sex. Lotor shifted slightly, trying to tug the slip off her the rest of the way. His progress was impeded with only one arm, Lotor giving up to reach under the hem of the slip. His fingers brushed over her panties, and again she gasped, shying away. It didn't stop Lotor, his growl muffled against her breast, he tore the panties from her body, Allura almost screaming in surprise.

But when he tried to touch between her legs again, she stopped him, Allura shoving him away from her. "Don't...just don't..."

"Allura?" He looked confused, but surely he didn't think she had melted completely for him just from some attention on her breasts.

"Please no more. Just get this over with." She begged, and a stubborn light appeared in his eyes. "Lotor..." She tried a different tactic, and perhaps it was cruel to play on his love like this. His so called love, she quickly reminded herself. "If you love me, even just a little, you'll stop this. Stop trying to..."

"Stop trying to make you feel good?" He seemed stunned at the idea, and she nodded again.

"Just get it over with!" Allura exclaimed, and put a hand on the crotch of his pants. What she felt there startled her, the bulge prominent, the snug pants straining and seeming close to bursting. Just how big was he, and could she really fit him inside her body?

"Allura..."

"Lotor, please!" Allura was urgent, gearing up her nerves to squeeze him through the pant's fabric. He actually moaned in response, but still tried to form protests. She kept on squeezing him, to the point his cock twitched against her hand. That seemed to decide it, Lotor chasing her hands away to ease down the zipper on his fly.

Allura couldn't help staring, seeing the large length of flesh that surged up and out of his pants. Nor could she stop from trembling, not sure how her body would be able to handle something like that. Suddenly rushing him didn't seem like such a good idea, Allura licking her lips nervously. Lotor didn't miss that action, he moaned in response to her tongue's movement.

"Allura..." A husky whisper of her name, his hand already around her wrist, tugging her to him. She had time to blink, and then he was kissing her, hard and possessively. "Straddle my lap." Came his orders, his hand rubbing down her bare back and over the bunched up slip. "Position yourself over my cock..."

She wasn't sure of the position, her trembles increasing. Wouldn't this take him in deeper? But she had already put this in motion, Lotor looking as needy and demanding as ever.

Somehow Allura found herself kneeling over his lap, hovering just over the head of his cock. She chewed on her lip uncertainly, looking anywhere but at Lotor as he bucked up to brush his cock insistently against her. He seemed to deem her wet enough at that touch, Lotor moaning something in Drule as he continued to tease over her. The feel of his cock touching her there, made her want to bolt, Allura somehow managing to hold still for him.

But still wasn't what Lotor wanted, he was commanding her to move, Allura hesitating. She blinked back tears, knowing that once she lowered herself down, the act would be final. There would be no going back.

She stared at Lotor, his eyes golden pools of lust, and knew this was the face of the price she was paying. The price to keep the galaxy safe. As far as faces went, it wasn't ugly, but the personality behind that handsome veneer is what she objected to.

"Allura?"

"It's nothing." Allura said, trying to tell herself this act meant nothing. Nothing at all to her. With a put upon sigh, she started to lower herself, feeling the tip of Lotor started to push past her folds, to squeeze into the entrance of her body. The head of his cock was fat and thick, and already spreading her untried area open. It felt like more than she could handle, muscles starting to protest with pain.

"Lotor, I don't think..." Suddenly his hand had landed on her hip, Lotor hauling her down without mercy. She screamed, feeling the sharp pain of her lost virginity. It wasn't like ripping off a bandage, the pain tp sudden and toosoon, Lotor too deep inside her. He looked satisfied by what he had done, unrepentant in the moment as he moaned about how she felt.

"So tight...even for a virgin..." He cooed, her cheeks flaming. She slapped him then, angry at the ease in which he could inflict this pain on her, Allura hissing out an insult. "Bastard!"

"Such shocking language for a princess." Lotor retorted, and still gripping her hip, did an upwards thrust. Allura gasped, and bit down on her lip, drawing blood in the process.

She actually started to fall forward, hands lashing out to grab his shoulders and keep her from hitting his broken arm. "Don't move!" Allura said, tasting blood on her tongue. "Not yet!"

"But it feels too good to stop!" countered Lotor, shifting forward to catch at her bleeding lip. He sucked on the wound, and it was then that she remembered that Drules were fond of blood. "Move with me Allura." Lotor commanded, kissing her harshly.

"I don't know how." Never mind she didn't think she could, not when she was so sore.

"It's easy!" Lotor's cock seemed to twitch and throb within her, the Drule burying his face between her breasts so that his words came out muffled. "Just bounce a little.."

"Bounce..." Again he was thrusting, and she realized he couldn't effectively move her with just one hand. That was a small blessing, even as Allura tried to block out the discomfort she was feeling. Some of it fled when he began to shower attention on her breasts, Allura's fingers tightening on his shoulders. More cries escaped her, and after an eternity of hesitation she began to move her hips, bouncing like he had told her too.

Those first bounces made the pain flare even more, but after a while it faded, or perhaps she grew numb to the feeling. Lotor began sucking on her nipple, but it wasn't enough, Allura miserable as they moved together. What's worse, he seemed to have an incredible amount of stamina, the sex going on and on to the point she thought it would never end.

She wanted it over with, she wanted him done with her, and gone from her body. She bounced harder, hoping to trigger a release from him, Allura hearing the pleased gasps and moans Lotor was letting out.

"That's good...you catch on quickly." Lotor muttered, licking up the moisture that had started to bead on her body. He licked up to the front of her throat, and then fasted his mouth on that spot, working to suck the skin into a bruise. Her neck, as she had discovered, was a weak point for her, her body tightening involuntary. That tightening was what triggered Lotor's release, a spurt of hot come shooting deep inside her.

He clung to her with one arm, mouth on her throat, muffling his moan. More come erupted out of him, to the point it overflowed out of her. The instant Lotor lifted his mouth from her throat, she pushed at him, trying to get off. She felt dirty and defiled, her body relieved to be slipping free of him.

"Allura?" Lotor seemed to come down from his sexual high, and now he almost looked worried.

"It's nothing, I'm fine!" She insisted, and rolled over onto her side. She had grabbed hold of the blanket, and now she pulled it over her, not wanting him to touch her more than necessary. "I'm just tired." She added, and after that would speak no more, no matter how many questions and concerns he tossed her way.

To Be Continued...

Michelle

Christine, the Dark Rose Maiden, thanks hon! Yep...she really doesn't want to marry or love him. She's so upset, and next chapter you will see how angry she gets with him when he makes the big reveal about the Keraclon. I'm sure you'll understand why she gets so pissed too. And yes, Lotor can be a good lover even if he got carried away near the end...but she refused to let him seduce her into enjoying their first time...she really doesn't want to like anything to do with him...but she's tied to him now! Ah the cliffhanger wasn't meant to be a cliffhanger. I just thought it better to end it where it did, rather than have a super long chapter. Plus I think I wasn't in the right mood to write sex...some nights it's easier to write such a scene than others. If I'm struggling for every word, then it means I should stop writing and come back when it's ready to flow from my head to my keyboard. X_X

LostinNYC, thank you! Glad you took the time to read it. Ah, it wasn't meant to be a tease. It was done for pratical reasons. Lately my sex scenes seem to get longer and longer, and i didn't want a chapter that pushed six or seven thousand words...! So I decided to end it split the events. Man...it's been about three months since I wrote a real sex scene too...X_X


	17. Chapter 17

It took her a while to actually fall asleep, and when she did, her dreams were troubled. She was always running in them, trying to dodge something that was hidden in the dark shadows of her mind. She could never catch so much as a glimpse of what chased her, but she felt the oppressive weight of it's eyes on her. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she opened her eyes, finding prince Lotor's concerned gaze on her.

Still caught in her dream's grasp, she gasped, her hands reaching for the blanket which she discovered had been pulled off of her. The slip was still tangled around her waist, but it did little to chase away the chill she felt. Lotor staring at her, sharp, predatory eyes not missing a thing, did not help matters. But when she tried to sit up, his hand held her down, his gaze sweeping over the length of her body before returning to her face.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Allura said when she saw him open his mouth to speak.

"You don't look fine." Lotor retorted, and traced his fingers over some of the goose bumps on her right arm. She shivered at his touch, but said nothing in response. "Allura, you were having some kind of nightmare...I could hear you moaning in your sleep."

"I told you it's nothing." Allura insisted. "I've just had too much on my mind...too much stress." She didn't say it, but Allura had the feeling he knew she was implying that much of the stress originated from him. She wondered if that was to be her lot in life, continually bombarded with the stress of having Lotor for a husband. She knew he brought plenty of troubles and worries with him, Allura having only sampled a small tasting of them.

"You'll get frown lines if you keep worrying." Lotor said, and now he moved his hand, using his fingers to trace just to the side of her right eye. "And you're far too young for that." She couldn't tell if he was purposefully trying to lighten the mood, but Allura didn't so much as crack a smile in response. "What can I do..." Lotor asked, fingers stroking back into her hair now. "To make you less stressed."

"You could start by not touching me." Allura said and that made him frown.

"That's not going to happen." Lotor told her. "Not now, not ever. Allura..." He chided when she sighed. "I am your husband now. And there are certain things I expect from you."

"Yes, I know..." She was sad then, Allura fighting the memories of last night. A few slipped in, anyway, Allura remembering how it had hurt when he had thrust inside her so ruthless and uncaring. A glance away from him to her body, showed the dried remains of her maiden's blood on her thighs, just another reminder that she was virgin no more.

She hadn't tried to hide her sadness, and Lotor was too perceptive not to recognize the emotion in her voice. "Allura, it won't always be like last night..."

"It won't...?" She asked this with all her doubts showing, Lotor smiling at her, the expression tender.

"It won't. A virgin's first time is supposed to hurt...and I could have, should have been gentler in that moment."

"You were just being you." Allura pointed out, and he looked chagrined.

"I was being a man...letting my urges drive my actions...I should have had more control..." A trace of her cheek now, thumb extending towards her lips. "I will have more control." She didn't believe him, didn't think him capable of being anything other than the lustful man he had been last night. "Please Allura..." He bent over her, the curtain of his white hair falling over her. "Let me prove to you how much better things can be between us..."

"What, now?" She asked, even as he lowered the rest of the way to kiss her. She was still unfeeling in this regard, lips dull and unresponsive to his kiss. Not that it seemed to deter Lotor, the prince working overtime to nibble warmth into her. She didn't try to push him away, holding herself still for this, as Allura parted her lips with a sigh. His tongue didn't immediately surged forward, Lotor instead worrying at the bottom of her lip.

"Allura...kiss me..." Lotor said, and he sounding like he was begging her in the moment. "Kiss me with feeling, even if you have to fake it. I just want..."

"Just want what?" She breathed into his mouth, and Allura could have sworn he shivered in that moment.

"Just kiss me." He said, seeming unwilling or unable to finish his earlier wish. He touched his lips back to hers, and this time his tongue swept inside, Lotor trying to coax some activity from her. She still didn't feel like kissing him, but allowed her tongue to rise, attempting to mimic his actions. He seemed to grow excited by that, and somehow he slowly urged her tongue to enter his mouth.

It was a new sensation awaiting for her there, Lotor pursing his lips, and doing a gentle suck on the tip of her tongue. It tickled, sensation teasing along the length of it, making Allura want to giggle. That sound escaped her, Lotor releasing her so that he could raise up and smile at her. She flushed then, embarrassed, and decided to distract herself by playing her fingers in his hair.

That only made Lotor smile more, especially when she swept back his hair, tucking as much of it as she could over his pointed ears. A dark look gleamed in his eyes, Allura remembering then what he had said about a Drule's ears being sensitive. Immediately she tried to pull her hand away, but he caught her by the wrist, holding her in place.

"Allura...Aren't you the least bit...curious about the differences between us?" She quickly shook her head no, but he didn't look as if he believed her. "The man from the woman, the human from the Drule?" He was encouraging her hand back to his ear, trying to get her to touch it. She didn't know the full harm of it, but something told her if she kept playing with his ear, he'd pounce on her, broken arm be damned.

"Are...are your ears really that sensitive?" She finally asked. "Or is that just a line you tell to all the humans girls you bed?"

He didn't take offense, his familiar smirk appearing. "Why don't you suck on one and see?" She really turned red then, Lotor's all too masculine laugh filling the room. "Ah Allura, you turn such cute shades of red and pink. I love how quick you are to blush."

"I hate it." She admitted. "It makes me too easy to read...at least when I feel embarrassed or humiliated."

"It's charming." Lotor assured her. "I hope you never learn to control that action." He lowered her hand from his ear, but did not drop it, bringing it inside to his mouth. He then did a long lick down the center of her palm, lips ending up fastened on the pulse point in her wrist. She feared that pulse of hers was started to speed up, just as her cheeks flooded with even more warmth.

He watched her as he sucked, and it wasn't until he was done, and her skin was a bright red over her pulse, that Allura realized he had been marking her. She suddenly wondered how many marks she had on her neck, Allura remembering how often he had placed his lips on that skin. Her hands flew to touch her throat, and Lotor smirked, pleased with himself.

"You've a nice ring of kiss marks around your neck." He brushed a kiss over the tip of her nose, teasing and playful. "Everyone who sees them will know you have a man."

"I think our wedding rings would have taken care of that!" She spat out, annoyed with him.

"Drules don't put a lot of stock on the meaning behind jewelry." Lotor retorted, still grinning. "We prefer more direct messages."

"Sounds to me like a dog marking his territory." She grumbled, and moved to get out of bed. Or at least she tried to, Lotor once again pulling her to him. She began to struggle against him, noting he still had his shirt on, though at some point during the night he had shucked his pants. It was rather alarming, Allura feeling his naked lower half pressed against her bottom. And by the feel of things, he was definitely interested in going into phase two of their wedding night.

She almost panicked then, especially when he forced her to straddle over his hips. Her struggles increased, making it difficult for him to hold onto her one handed. She began to protest, almost babbling now, barely aware that Lotor was trying to say something to her. "Lotor no...it...it hurt too much...I'm too sore, I'm not ready...I don't...don't want to have sex with you again!"

She found him carefully hugging her to him, his arm around her, his hand rubbing her back. He was making soothing sounds, trying to calm her. "My poor princess..." Lotor was saying. "I really was a beast to you."

"I expected no less." She whispered, and didn't look up to see his frown.

"You deserve better...you should get better." A quick pet of her hair, and then Lotor was easing her back and off his lap. "Allura...do you remember when I said my arm is cause for us to be careful?"

She nodded. "How could I forget?"

"Then you'll also remember I said it would cause us to be creative." Continued Lotor, and she turned wary at his smile. "Don't look so suspicious, you'll LIKE this." Allura gave him her best doubting look, but he was already settling himself on the pillows. "Please, I want you to stand up on the bed."

"Why?"

"Please, just humor me." Lotor told her, and she sighed.

"Fine...but at the first hint of...weirdness, I stop."

"Trust me, I doubt you'll want to stop from this." He gestured her to stand over him, her legs spread. She shied at that first suggestion, not liking that all he needed to do was look up to see a far too intimate view of her groin. Especially when he told her to position herself over his face, Allura not sure how or what got her to agree to that. "Now, I want you to grip the head board." Lotor told her, licking his lips. She shuddered at that, having gazed down worriedly at his face in time to see his tongue's movement. "And whatever you do, don't let go."

He waited for her to grab hold of the top edge of the head board, and then his hand on her hip was urging her to lower herself onto his face. Allura didn't exactly sit her full weight on him, she just hovered uncertainly. She knew what he was going to do, she had read enough about it in her books, though nothing had ever told her about a position like this!

Nor did it prepare her for the sensation of the first touch of tongue to her most private place, Allura breaking off the uncertain chewing of her lip to gasp. She didn't know if Lotor could hear her, with her thighs pressing against his ears. He certainly didn't laugh like she expected him too, the Drule keeping silent save for a groan she imagined was pleased.

She whimpered then, feeling his tongue moving, undulating between the lips of her sex. Such an insidious movement, wiggling side to side as he determinedly licked a line from front to back, and front again. Her legs began to tremble, though she was far from tired of standing, Allura feeling the pleasure spiking through her like a hammer hitting a nail.

And with the pleasure came her moisture, more than she had just hours earlier. There was no doubt her body liked this kind of attention, Lotor's tongue unleashing a flood within her, letting it drip down her thighs and into his waiting mouth.

He guzzled greedily, but never stopped with his licking, being sure to lave attention over every inch. No spot was left untouched, not even that tiny pearl of flesh near the front of her sex, Allura letting out an unlady like squeal when he wiggled his tongue over it. The pleasure that shot through her left her staggered, Allura gripping the headboard so tight, her knuckles bled of their color.

Another wiggle of his tongue, Lotor just as affectionate with her clit as he had been when kissing her lips. And then he fastened his lips around that sensitive flesh, doing the gentlest of pulls that had her wiggling her hips in response. She almost tried to sit down on his face when he began to suck, and only the grip she had on the headboard kept her from falling completely on him.

"Ah, Lotor! Oh Gods! Your mouth!" Everything she thought she knew was being blown away by a little bit of suction, Allura finding she really liked this kind of attention. Her legs quivered, the trembles going all the way down to her curling toes. Lotor let go of her clit, then did one last lick, Allura shuddering and gasping in response. She felt disappointed, knowing her body had grown increasingly hot and needy. It was like being on the verge of something, a magnificent something that was waiting to burst inside her.

She processed all this in a handful of seconds, realizing Lotor had resuming licking along her slit. His hand left her hip, but she wasn't sure where it was, too focused on his tongue, trying to will it to move back to her clit. It teased over that spot, but it was a fleeting lick, lasting only half a second if at all. She whined them, crying out her frustration. "Lotor, stop teasing me!"

This time she was positive he heard her, the answering laugh sending more shivers through her. His tongue washed over her clit, then was replaced with his fingers, an answer to where his hand had gone. He pinched her gently there, then used his thumb to rub friction over her clitoris, Allura doing a low keening as her body climbed higher up a precipice.

His tongue was probing at the still sore entrance to her body, and her muscles tightened in reaction. His tongue was nowhere near the length and thickness of his erect cock though, plunging smoothly inside her, to wiggle and rub against her passage's walls. She shook even harder, the dual stimulation proving too much for Allura, a scream tearing out of her.

And then she climaxed, and it was like that first plunge into a lake from a high cliff, the feelings sudden and infusing her whole body. But instead of the cold water of the lake, it was warmth that went through her, liquefying her bones, and making her purr in pleasure.

Allura began to sag, feeling Lotor do one last lick of her flesh. "Let go of the bed board." Came his husky command, and Allura could barely work her fingers enough to comply. His hand was on her hip again, and he was guiding her down his body. She was dazed and disorientated, and breathing heavy from what had just happened. And yet she noticed the oddest of things, seeing Lotor's lips and chin glistening with what had to be the juice of her release.

Lotor looked very satisfied, his eyes dancing with triumph. She felt to euphoric to get angry over his victory, Allura trying to remember why she hadn't wanted him to touch her there last night.

She ended up poised over his very prominent erection, and suddenly her relaxed state vanished. She panicked, and he saw it, Lotor struggling with her, as she fought not to give in to her tears. Dimly Allura was aware of him speaking, of Lotor saying it wouldn't hurt this time. She didn't believe him, every muscle of her body tightening up in fear.

"Allura..."

"No, Lotor no!" She was saying over and over again, struggling to get away from him. Why did he have to ruin what he had just given her, by asking this of her on the heels of her climax?

"The Keraclon! I'll tell you about the Keraclon!" He suddenly said, and that reached through Allura's frantic thoughts. She stilled, staring at him, remembering the purpose behind all this.

"The Keraclon..." She whispered, even as he pulled her the rest of the way onto his prick. "Kyaa!" Allura hadn't been expecting that, the sudden penetration making her cry out. But except for the residual soreness of last night, it didn't hurt anywhere near what she had expected. It didn't mean she was satisfied with what he did, even as he was sliding into her deeper, his passage made easier by how wet she was.

"Yes...I'll tell you everything now." It was a distraction technique, but one she welcomed, Allura's fingers tightening on his shoulders as he thrust into her. She bit her lip to hold in her cries, an urgent feeling overtaking her as she waited for him to continue. "You remember back on that planet? When we killed that first Keraclon?"

"Ye..yes..." She shuddered, and it wasn't entirely born of distaste. Her flesh was still sensitive from his tongue and fingers, and every bit of friction he was generating with his dick made her shiver anew. "I forgot to switch my blaster to kill..."

"It was a common mistake, one anyone could have done." Lotor told her, and she let out a strangled laugh.

"You said similar back then..."

"The truth of it never changes, no matter how many times...ah...it is repeated." He said with a broken moan. "So good..." He closed his eyes for a second, seeming to savor the feeling of her body around him. "Allura, do you remember what happened next? When you went to look over it's dead body?"

"I...I touched it." She said, a breathy gasp escaping her. "You didn't want me to, but you couldn't stop me in your state."

"And what happened when you touched it?" prodded Lotor, hand encouraging her to bounce with his thrusts. She found she did not mind to move with him, and her breasts jiggled about as she bounced.

"It was wet..." Allura said. "Some kind of liquid staining my gloves."

"Did you never wonder what that liquid was? What purpose it could serve?" Lotor asked, then nuzzled his lips against her throat. That made it harder for her to think, Allura letting her head fall back, unconsciously offering up her throat to his lips.

"Um..." What was the question? She almost couldn't remember, trying to recall that odd bit of curiosity she might have had amidst all the fear generated on the planet. "A little, but there wasn't time to really devote to pursuing that kind of thought..." He didn't answer for a length of time, Allura's heart beating faster as he sucked at the skin of her throat. "Lotor?" She shifted her hand to his hair, actually petting him. "Why is that important?"

A quick kiss was given against her lips, Allura getting the taste of her climax in the process. "It's a natural function of their bodies." Lotor explained. "It's a protective agent, known to serve only one function."

"And that function is what?"

"Have you never wondered why the Keraclon are not affected by their own telepathy?" Her eyes widened then, a realization coming to her, as she breathed out a no. "Yes, Allura, that liquid that their body produces, it works as a shielding. It somehow blocks out the telepathy, so that they can function and not give in to the fear transmitted by their people."

"And that liquid...if we could get a hold of it...?"

"No...we can't. It's impossible without a live subject. The body stops producing the liquid shortly after the Keraclon dies. But!" he smirked then, the pride of his race in his eyes. "My father's best people, worked for months on a way to combat if not defeat the Keraclon. Allura, they learned about that liquid, and they tried to produce a similar substance."

"And they found it, didn't they?" Allura demanded with a gasp that had more to do with the way Lotor was moving, than the excitement she felt at his words. "That's...oooooh...that's why they were killed!"

"Yes." Lotor said, and leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. She stared into his eyes, expression troubled and seeing herself reflected in those golden orbs. "But it's not what you think...it's not a substance to smear onto your body..."

"It's not?"

"No. It's something that needs to be injected into the bloodstream." Lotor sighed then, sound low and dreamy. "It's a vaccine Allura. My people developed a vaccine that flood the body with antibodies against the Keraclon's telepathy. It lasts up to a year. Of course..." He added when she just sat there stunned. "You still have to be able to fight them the normal way...and that outpost wasn't as well equipped to deal with a threat as large as a Keraclon armada."

"So what's in the vaccine?" Allura demanded, excited and eager for further details. "What do we need to make it?"

"Don't know."

"You don't know?" She all but screamed at him, and tried to jerk her body off him. He held on to her, shouting her name.

"Allura, Allura, calm down!"

"All this was for nothing then!" She shrieked, pounding her fists against his chest as he continued to have sex with her. "I should have never trusted you, you snake! You've taken everything from me!"

"Allura, listen to me!" He looked like he wanted to shake her then, his eyes narrowed onto her face. "I may not know how to make the vaccine, but I carry it with me! In the safest container possible, my body the host."

"Your body?" He nodded, and she paused. "You mean, all this time you've had the vaccine inside you...?" Another nod, Allura staring numbly at him. She recalled a memory, the instant when he stood facing a Keraclon. He had been injured, and yet that hadn't stopped him from waiting for the Keraclon to approach. In fact, she could remember thinking he looked more angry than scared, and now she cursed herself for a fool.

"You were never scared of them!" She accused, slapping her hand against his shoulder. "Not the first time, not even when the second one approached you. That's why you were able to kill so efficiently. You never saw your worst fear!"

"I'm sorry I had to deceive you...".

"You're not sorry at all! You tricked and used me!" She snapped, then gasped. "That substance on my gloves...they took a sample of them at that Alliance hospital. Maybe..."

"It doesn't matter what they might have discovered by studying it." Lotor interrupted. "The Keraclon killed them before they could make any progress in that regard."

"And it's all your fault!" The anger was back, stronger than ever, Allura cursing Lotor for all he had done. He looked ready to object, but she shook her head, and fought him, gong so far as to press against his broken arm to distract him with pain. He hissed, and his grip on her loosened, Allura hauling herself up and off his dick.

"Allura!" He blinked, and his eyes were angry, his cock seeming to throb in protest of losing her warmth. "What are you...?"

"Finish yourself off!" Allura announced, and eased herself off the bed. She was shaky on her feet, but the anger propelled her forward. "I'm going to shower, and then...then we are going to Doctor Gorma." She marched across the room, ignoring his protesting shouts, and jerked open the bathroom door. "And Lotor? You better hope I don't have him drain every last drop of your blood!"

To be continued!

Michelle

Lotor Sincline, thank you! Glad you found it nice and steamy. Hope you found it the same for this chapter even if he got blue balled by her! XD I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapters as well. Ah the wedding, one reason I did it that the chapter went right to the reception was cause I was feeling burned out on writing weddings! Between weddings and wars, my brain is fried! X_X


	18. Chapter 18

Her shower was quicker than she would have liked, but Allura hadn't felt she had the luxury of time to linger in the cascade of the soothing water's heat. Not when so much rode on her delivering Lotor to Doctor Gorma, the Drule's blood needed if they were going to have a fighting chance against the Keraclon. It was vital they get to work right away, studying and working to replicate the vaccine that currently coursed through Lotor's body. She wouldn't be able to relax otherwise, not until their defense was made ready.

Stepping out of the bathroom, she was greeted by the prince's voice. Her husband sounded uncertain, almost troubled as he spoke. "Allura I..."

"Save it Lotor." She retorted, in no mood for his words, be they troubled or sincere. In fact she had little tolerance left in her for him in general, Allura giving the bed a wide berth as she traveled over to the closet. Someone, Nanny no doubt, had seen to leave fresh clothes for her inside it, Allura almost smiling when she saw her familiar pink jump suit.

There was also plenty of borrowed clothing for Lotor, Allura snatching shirt and pants off of the rack at random. "Get dressed." She told him, and flung the clothes in his direction. They fell short of the bed, but she made no move to correct that, leaving Lotor to shift and crawl to the edge of the mattress.

"You're angry with me..." Lotor noted, and she made a half laugh, half scoffing sound.

"Is it that obvious?" Allura asked, dropping her towel as she stood in the shadows of the closet's door. She quickly got dressed, pulling on bra and panties, and then the jump suit. The sleeves were long, the ends a ruffled length that draped over her hands. Some foresight of Nanny's had allowed the woman to choose a top with a high, white collar, the perfect way to hide those bruises Lotor had called kiss marks.

Once dressed, she fetched her boots from the closet floor, and walked over to the room's dressing table. She quickly pulled on the white vinyl, noticing Lotor's reflection in the mirror. He was struggling to button up his short sleeve shirt one handed, but she felt not an ounce of sympathy towards him. Not when she felt so angry in the moment.

"Why are you so angry?" Lotor asked after a lengthy pause. Allura said nothing, searching the counter top for something to dress her hair with. She found hair pins laid out, and hid a smile. Trust Nanny to know her tastes, and have the foresight to leave new ones out so that Allura could put her hair up into it's familiar bun. She set about to doing just that, Lotor at last getting his shirt closed.

"I told you what you wanted to know!" He added, petulant in the moment. "I've given you the key to fighting off the Keraclon! What more could you want...?" Allura bristled, but didn't rise to the bait, sliding in pin after pin to secure her hair into place. "You can't be still mad about planet Zegabob..."

"Do you really think me so...quick to get over the deaths of those people?" She demanded of his reflection. "There was a loss of some two hundred fifty-million people!"

"A tragedy yes, but no use losing sleep over what we cannot change." Lotor retorted. It was just another reminder of his alien nature, Lotor seeming unflappable about the deaths that had occurred. She hated that he could be so calm over what he had set into motion, Allura pounding a fist on the table, rattling the contents there.

"You don't feel any remorse for what you did!"

"Not really, no." Lotor admitted easily enough.

"How can you be so cold? So unfeeling?" Allura demanded, turning to him. He had managed to get his pants on, and was struggling with his boots.

"I feel plenty." He retorted back to her. "Just because I am not suffering the same emotions you feel for the situation that occurred on Zegabob, doesn't mean I am an unfeeling monster!"

"I think you feel only the emotions that are convenient to you." Allura snapped, and rose from her seat. His crutch was still by the room's exit, and she went to retrieve it now. "Or maybe..." She continued snidely, coming to him to hand over the crutch. "Maybe you choose to only feel that which will make you feel good about yourself..."

"I'm feeling pretty bad right about now." He muttered, taking the crutch from her.

"Why?" She wanted to know, watching as Lotor struggled to lift himself up out of bed.

"Why?" He repeated, and she nodded, seeing her question had caught him off guard. "Well...you're hurt and angry with me...it's not the way I wanted our married life to start off..."

"You're a fool if you hoped for anything more!" Allura snapped back, and then was striding for the bedroom's door. She didn't pause to see if he was following her, Allura throwing open the door. Thankfully there was no one present in the corridor. Allura didn't think she would have been able to meet their eyes if there had been, especially with the chance of them having heard the screams and shouts she and Lotor had done during the night and early morning.

It didn't mean she'd be able to avoid the looks indefinitely. Everyone in the castle had to know she was married to Lotor now, and would rightfully assume they had been intimate. Allura had to call on her last reserves of strength to be able to walk down the hall with her head held high, her look almost defiant in the moment, daring anyone to say anything or pity her.

Lotor hobbled along behind her, trying to keep up with the fast pace her anger had set into motion. Thankfully the distance between them kept Lotor from trying to talk to her, Allura not wanting to have to choose from slowing down to listen, or having him shout their business for all to hear.

The ride in the castle's elevator to the ground floor where the medical wing was located, was awkward, Allura keeping her eyes fixed on the door. But out of the corner of her eye, she could see Lotor studying her, his expression hinting that he was trying to figure her out. She didn't think he could, they were too different, the human and Drule way of thinking complex in the differences they held.

The elevator dinged it's arrival at their floor, Allura stepping out to surprised faces. No one had expected her to come visit the medical wing, especially not on the morning after her wedding night. She could only imagine the kinds of things they must be assuming as the reason for this visit, but she didn't falter. Instead she spoke loudly, announcing her need for the doctor.

"Someone find Doctor Gorma." She said, as Lotor stepped off the elevator. "Tell him it's of the vital importance."

"Yes, princess!" A nurse scurried off, but not before giving Lotor a considering look.

"And someone should alert Coran to this." She realized, not having paused to consult anyone else before coming to the castle's hospital. "Have him, and the pilots Pidge and Hunk come here as soon as it's feasible for them." She didn't know if the boys would be up yet, it was barely past dawn when Lotor had revealed to her about the Keraclon vaccine.

Coran would be up though, the man always one early to rise, and late to bed.. And all because of the many duties his role as advisor to the royal family gave him, Coran having plenty of paperwork and jobs to oversee.

"Princess, would you and your husband like to wait in a private room?" An orderly asked, and she couldn't help bristling at hearing someone acknowledge Lotor as her husband.

"Yes, please." Her smile was fake, a plastered on kindness to put the man at ease. It surely didn't reach her eyes, and if she wasn't careful, everyone would be able to tell she was upset over more than just her marriage to Prince Lotor.

"Right this way." The orderly said, and turned to lead them through the small waiting area of the hospital. This time of day it was empty, the patients under the doctor's care all manageable cases that didn't need round the clock vigil. It was always different after an attack from Doom, the waiting room crowded with concerned family members and friends. They'd wait an endless amount of time for any word, good or bad about their love ones' conditions.

It wasn't just the soldiers that helped to defend Arus from attacks that were treated at this hospital. The medical facility in the castle of lions was one of the best, if not THE best care on Arus, and many flocked from different cities and towns to be treated here. Allura willingly opened the doors to her home to treat those with the most serious of illnesses, well aware that Doctor Gorma and his staff might be their only hope at a cure.

The orderly led them past the empty waiting room, and into a long hall. On either side of the halls were doors, with small windows cut into the wood, allowing a glimpse into the rooms. Allura tried not to look, not wanting to be overly curious about those who were being treated on the other side. But she couldn't help but catch glimpses of sickly pale faces, their bodies laying bundled under sheets.

Eventually the orderly stopped before one room in particular, and taking a ring of keys out of his pocket, unlocked the door. "You can wait inside here." He said, and she nodded, Allura knowing there was little chance of them needing this room right now.

"Thank you." She said, and swept pass him into the room. The orderly kept on holding the door, Lotor moving slower to follow her inside. She ignored him to look around, noting the pale green walls, and ivory color floor, two beds against one wall, and a chair between them. Lotor walked himself over to that chair, and lowered himself down, seeming more content to rest than continue to stand with his twisted ankle.

There was a window cut into the far right wall, and she went to it now, opening it just a crack to breathe in the fresh air of Arus. It chased away some of the chemical smell of the hospital, and the view of the forest was lovely. She could have gone on staring for an infinite amount of time, but then Lotor broke their silence.

"It seems hospitals look the same, no matter what the planet."

"Hmmm." A noncommittal sound from her, Allura crossing her arms over her chest.

"Allura...how long are you gonna maintain your anger?" He finally demanded with a sigh.

"I think forever sounds about good right now." She retorted, not looking at him.

"You can't spend the rest of your, our lives, being mad at me!" He protested, and she smiled, her reflection looking cruel in the moment.

"If you don't like the idea of that, then divorce me."

"I won't do that!" Lotor snapped, aghast. "How can you even suggest such a thing to me?" She shrugged then in reply. "Allura, I know because of my...history with women, you don't believe in certain things. But I am committed to this marriage, committed to making it work."

"You're the only one then." Allura murmured, his sigh making her turn. "What did you expect Lotor? Did you really think I'd just happily admit defeat, and cater to your ideals of a perfect wife? You blackmailed me into this farce, and frankly I don't have the energy or desire to play at being happy when I am not!"

"You wouldn't have to pretend, if you just let down your guard and tried to..."

"Tried to what?" She interrupted him.

"Tried to love me." He finished lamely.

"You ask for the impossible." Allura told him. "I could never love someone who took away all my choices, forced me to be with him!"

"And what would your choice have been if I hadn't come along?" Lotor demanded, and now he was getting angry. "You wouldn't have married for love! You would have been too concerned on making the best deal possible for Arus. You would have sold yourself like a whore, all to potentially make life better for your people!"

She turned an angry crimson at his words, Allura all but shouting. "Aren't I already a whore, for giving in to you?"

"That's different." He insisted, and she scoffed.

"How?" Allura shook her head then, a bitter laugh escaping her. "You don't even know, do you? You found my price, and paid it...congratulations Lotor, you won." Another twisted laugh. "You won."

"I don't feel very victorious right now." He grumbled in response.

"Don't expect me to feel any pity for that!" She exclaimed.

"Allura, you.." Whatever Lotor had been about to say was lost as a rapid knock sounded on the room's door. Both of them stood there staring at each other, tension apparent as the door opened. Coran was then revealed to them, a sleepy Hunk and Pidge standing behind him.

"Princess...You wanted to see us?" Coran asked, and she finally tore her eyes away from Lotor.

"Yes, Coran. I did." She gestured for them to step inside, noting Pidge had lifted up his glasses so that he could rub at his eyes.

"How are you, princess?" Hunk asked, voice rife with his concern. He was trying not to be obvious in looking her over, but it was clear he was looking for signs of abuse.

She drew up straighter, her eyes gentling enough for her to thank him for his concern. "I'm fine Hunk." She let out a breath, preparing to tell them what she knew. "The Drules have developed a vaccine. One that once injected into the bloodstream renders one immune from the Keraclon's telepathy."

Their expressions were amazed at her revelation, Allura smiling grimly. At least a dozen questions were voiced, Allura holding up her hand for silence. "The Drules died for this research of theirs, but it was not in vain. Lotor himself carries the vaccine in his blood. I mean to have Doctor Gorma extract it, so that our best minds can study and replicate the vaccine. If we're lucky, they'll figure it out quick enough to help us erect our defense against the Keraclon."

"Where is Doctor Gorma!" demanded Pidge, excitement in his eyes. "We need to get Lotor's blood drawn as soon as possible!"

"Trust me Pidge, if I thought it would help, I'd stick him myself with needles." Allura's chuckled inwardly at her grim humor. "I've already sent for Doctor Gorma, he should be here shortly."

Hunk looked at Lotor now, expression considering. "It's a good thing the princess didn't leave you to bleed to death on that planet then."

"Yeah!" agreed Pidge. "Else we would have lost our means to combat the Keraclon on fair ground." Lotor looked annoyed that they were implying his life's worth was only for that of the vaccine, but at least he didn't growl out a retort.

"We'll be able to do more than just fight them off..." Coran pointed out. "We'll be able to exterminate the whole race if need be."

"Coran, I am shocked at you." Lotor spoke up. "Are you advocating the wiping out of an entire race?" A tsking sound followed that question, cold amusement in Lotor's eyes. "And you say me and my people are evil."

"Don't pretend you Drules didn't develop that vaccine so you couldn't kill off the Keraclon too!" Pidge snapped. "They're a menace, worse than the Drule. They don't deserve to live!"

"Who are we to say who can and can't live?" Lotor questioned, and looked at Allura. "Isn't that the kind of thing you heroes would normally say?"

She shifted from foot to foot, Allura uncomfortable with all their words. "I...I don't like the thought of killing off an entire race of people. But...the Keraclon have done so much evil, so much damage to whole worlds, killing off people, animals, the very heart of the planets. They need to be stopped..and if fighting them off isn't enough to convince those parasites to change their ways, then...we'll have to take more extreme measures."

"Until then, we can work on distributing the vaccine to as many worlds as we can." Added Coran. "So that the tragedy of Zegabod and many other planets, never repeats itself."

"The vaccine is only good for a year." Lotor warned. "You'll have to readminister it, and there hasn't been time to study the side effects of prolong use."

"We'll worry about that later." Allura decided, spying Doctor Gorma's approach through the door's window. He smiled a greeting to her, and opened the door, everyone turning expectant eyes to him.

"Well, now..." Doctor Gorma said when the door had clicked closed. "When they said the princess and her husband had come to see me, I wasn't expecting quite this big of a crowd waiting for me."

"I'm sorry to call you away from your work, but this is an urgent matter." Allura said, and quickly explained about the Keraclon and the vaccine. An intrigued look

appeared in Doctor Gorma's eyes, the man definitely interested in studying Lotor's blood.

"Fine, I'll draw the samples right now." Doctor Gorma said, and opened his black medical bag. "You will allow me to keep a sample for my own, private studies, won't you, your highness?"

"Yes, of course." Allura assured him, watching as he drew out a needle, and laid about twenty empty vials on the bed next to Lotor's chair. "Any input you can offer our scientists will be greatly appreciated."

"Speaking of whom..." Coran spoke up, moving to leave the room. "I shall go make the calls. I'm sure we'll be having our best minds fighting over the chance to study the prince's blood."

"Make sure you invite enough that you can spare some of those minds for the trip Allura and I are going to take." Lotor's order stopped Coran in his track, everyone turning to look at Lotor. The prince was holding his arm still for Gorma, the doctor tying a band round his upper arm before checking for veins.

"Trip?" Allura asked, and frowned at him. "If you're thinking we're to take a honey moon at this time, you're gravely mistaken."

"Trust me when I say this will be no pleasure cruise." Lotor retorted, not wincing as Gorma stuck him with a needle. "But we need to go to Doom."

"To Doom?" Came the gasped out exclamations, several of the expressions worn hinting they thought Lotor had lost his mind.

"Yes. I must complete my original mission to bring the vaccine to Doom. Ideally, I would like to have some already made to present to my father's court." Lotor explained, and glanced at Gorma. "Makes sure you take as much blood as you can. I want an even amount distributed to both sets of scientists."

"We are not going to Doom." Allura stated flatly. "At least, I am not going with you."

"Your place is at my side." Lotor reminded her. "Where I go, you go."

She gave him her most stoniest of glares, and it had no effect on him, Lotor remaining insistent she travel to Doom with him. "Coran, get your fastest ships ready. I want to leave by nightfall." Lotor said to the advisor.

"The princess of course, will insist on traveling with the best soldiers for her escort." Warned Coran.

"Ah, you don't trust me?" Lotor asked, and it was Hunk who let out an angry exclamation.

"You've given us no reason too!"

"Yeah!" added Pidge. "You could be setting up another trap for Allura."

"And why would I need to do that?" Lotor inquired, tone mild. "Allura is my wife now, Arus a part of the Doom Empire. There is no need for tricks or traps of any kind."

"That remains to be seen." Allura muttered, turning her eyes to the blood Gorma had drawn. It was the same color as a human's. a nice crimson shade that looked rich with vitality. It was hard to believe that in it, flowed the key to the Keraclon's defeat, and Allura hoped it wouldn't take too long for her scientists to decipher the mysteries of the vaccine.

To Be Continued...

Michelle


	19. Chapter 19

It took some time before everything had been made ready for their journey to Doom, many of the summoned scientists not arriving until close to nightfall. Lotor had been visibly impatient to leave, almost agitated at the delays but Allura hadn't cared. She would not be rushed, especially not to go to that vile world of his, the princess not looking forward to meeting the man who was now her father in law.

Nor was she willing to blithely walk into his court unprepared, Allura not knowing what to expect from Zarkon and his minions, even with Lotor's reassurance that they were all allies now. As such, she had picked among the best soldiers employed by the castle of lions, packing the ships with close to five hundred men and women. Of those soldiers, at least a hundred would accompany her inside Castle Doom. The rest would be on stand by, waiting for her signal in case something went wrong.

She hoped it wouldn't, Allura worried and staring out of one of the large windows that made up the forward and side walls of the viewing deck. The glass was triple paned, thick and sturdy, and reinforced for space travel. She couldn't see much currently, the speed of hyper drive blurring everything around them, making it look like a million lights surrounded the ship.

Somewhere, amidst the lights was the ship's escorts, three small battle class vessels that carried more men and smaller fighter craft. It was the maximum amount of aggression they could show, Allura knowing if they really were going to make a go at peace with Doom, they couldn't arrive with a full army of ships. It was nerve wrecking to think they might be flying into a trap, and Allura once again wondered if she had been foolish to insist on Hunk and Pidge remaining behind on Arus.

The two pilots hadn't been happy to let her go without them, and even less thrilled that she was bringing blue lion onboard the main vessel. It might be a risk, to bring blue lion to Doom, but Allura wanted the lion close by. Especially if a fight broke out, Allura hoping her training would help make a difference in battle. At least long enough for help to arrive.

Lotor had wisely not argued with her on this, and that made Allura wonder if she was playing into his hands. He'd often tell her she was being too suspicious of him, and Allura would quickly counter that Lotor had given her ample reason to think that way. She didn't trust him, nor did she particularly like him at this moment, Allura keeping her anger close to her heart.

It made things increasingly difficult between them, Allura trying to avoid Lotor for much of their journey. She had insisted on separate rooms on this ship, and though Lotor had argued a case against that, Allura had ultimately won. It wasn't as if Lotor had anything left to bargain with, and right now Allura couldn't stand for him to touch her. But she knew she couldn't go on avoiding her husband indefinitely, there were things expected of her, of them, the people would eventually demand an heir be produced from this union.

But right now Allura didn't want to think about the troubles that introducing a child into an unhappy marriage would bring. She just wanted peace, to enjoy the quiet of the near empty viewing deck. She wouldn't get her wish, Allura hearing the sound of Lotor's crutch hitting the metal floor. She didn't turn towards him, holding back a sigh as he drew near to her.

"What is it now?" She asked, still staring out at the lights.

"Your scientists are having too much fun using me as their lab rat." Grumbled Lotor, making no move to join her on the bench. "I swear they find new excuses by the hour to stick me with their needles."

She almost smiled then, somehow pleased at the thought of her scientists using Lotor as a pin cushion. "They're just eager to discover the properties of the vaccine." Allura replied.

"They're like a child with a new toy." Lotor retorted. "With the amount of excitement they radiate."

"They each want to be the one to discover how to replicate the vaccine." Allura pointed out with a murmur. She had seen that excitement first hand, first when the scientists had been gathered at the castle of lions, their astonishment apparent as she told them about the vaccine. That excitement only increased when they learned it would be in their hands to discover how to make the formula, the gathered scientists splitting into two groups.

The larger group remained at the Castle of Lions, diligently working on the blood samples Doctor Gorma had drawn from Lotor. The small group, consisting of only eleven men and women, had been frightened at the thought of going to Doom. But most of that fear had been stamped down when they realized their group would have continual access to Lotor and the precious blood contained in his veins.

Allura wouldn't be surprise if the scientists weren't abusing the privilege, both groups in an unofficial competition to be the first to make the breakthrough needed. The groups were supposed to be sharing notes and discoveries, using as secure a channel as they could manage to convey those findings. But the competitive nature of the scientists had them keeping secrets from one another, and if the vaccine wasn't replicated soon, Allura would have to step in and force them to work together.

"It won't be much longer until we're at Doom." Lotor said, stirring her from her thoughts. "And your people have had little success with the vaccine. I won't have anything to show my father..."

"Except for the vaccine in your blood." Allura pointed out, and this time smirked. "I'm sure he'll involve some of Doom's scientists. You'll have to endure more stickings!"

"It's not funny." Lotor snapped at her, fangs flashing.

She sobered some, but not quite sighing. The journey to Doom had taken nearly two days, even in hyper drive. Two long days, with no results to show for it, and the Keraclon lurking, their whereabouts unknown. Allura wouldn't be able to feel completely at ease until the vaccine was made, and all her soldiers were injected with it.

"Have you noticed any side effects since being given the vaccine?" She asked, and that was another concern. They didn't know what if any adverse effects the vaccine would have, especially not the prolonged use of it.

"No. But then...I haven't exactly been in the most healthiest of conditions." Lotor stated wryly, and she glanced at him, noting his broken arm. The pain medication he had been given, could count for much of any side effects Lotor might have experienced this past week and a half.

"I guess we'll just have to take the good with the bad." Allura sighed, hoping there wouldn't be any complications from using the vaccine. "Lance still hasn't returned to Arus." She said, and didn't look away fast enough to see the uncaring look in Lotor's eyes. "He's still searching for wherever Keith jumped to."

"Do you honestly think the captain is even alive at this point?" Lotor asked, and she jumped to her feet, whirling around to face him.

"Of course I do!" Allura snapped, eyes flashing. "Why would you even say such a thing?"

"Then why hasn't there been any contact from him?" Lotor asked, hardly phased by her display of anger. 'He hasn't tried one time to contact the castle."

He was voicing fears she had already had, Allura refusing to let her uncertainty show. "There could be a number of reasons why we haven't heard from him..."

"And one of those reasons could be that he's dead." Lotor retorted.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Allura demanded, and Lotor smiled then.

"Of course I wouldn't wish him dead." That had Allura blinking in confusion, Lotor inching closer to her. "Not at least until after I've had the chance to rub his nose in our marriage."

"You..." She glared at him then, almost speechless with shock. "You will do nothing of the kind!"

"Allura, even if I say or do nothing about it, it will still upset the captain." He pointed out. "He'll hate that he wasn't able to save you from me, that he wasn't able to prevent this marriage. Why, he might even hate you after a while."

"Me?" Allura was shocked at the thought of Keith hating her.

"Yes." There was a sense of gloating about him, Lotor smirking. "Because every time he looks at you, he won't be able to keep from thinking about me, about us, and the things we do to each other when alone."

"You'll be lucky if I ever let you touch me again!" Allura threatened in response.

"Oh you'll let me." Lotor said confidently. "I've been lenient on you these past two days, allowing you to keep separate quarters from me. But Allura, that can't last. A husband and wife shouldn''t be separate from each other."

"Allowing me?" She stared at him as though he had gone mad. Perhaps he was insane, even just a little bit. "You don't allow me anything! If I want to sleep separate from you, I can and I will!"

"And how will that look to my father?" Lotor asked, and she almost shouted out her response.

"I don't give a damn what your father thinks!"

"But you should!" hissed Lotor. "He'll think you're not upholding your part of this marriage, that you're making a mockery of the alliance. And trust me Allura, when I say you don't want him to decide the treaty is at an end. Especially over the small sacrifice that is sharing a bed with your husband."

She really didn't know what to say to that, Allura starting to shake with her anger. "I should have never agreed to go to Doom with you!"

"Maybe not." Agreed Lotor. "But you're here now, and there's no going back."

"Is this what it's always going to be like Lotor?" Allura asked. "Our marriage nothing but manipulations to get me to do what you want?"

"Truthfully I don't know." He admitted, actually sighing then. "I don't want to have to force you..." She scoffed at that, but he didn't pause. "I'd have you come willingly to me, each and every night. But you've made it clear that right now that isn't going to happen."

"If you want my...compliance..."

"Your compliance I already have." Lotor interrupted her. "It's your love and devotion that continues to elude me."

"You won't get them. Especially with the way you continue to act!" Allura retorted, hands on her hips. Both she and Lotor narrowed their eyes at one another, the air seeming to crackle around them in tension.

"I'm not like other men..." Lotor began, and Allura let out a bitter laugh.

"That much is obvious!"

"I don't act like them or say the things they say, don't act otherwise just to keep a woman in her comfort zone." Lotor continued. "I go after what I want, ruthless and determined. I neither want, nor am content to take no for an answer. And if I want something, I get it, and Allura, that will include you!"

"You've gotten as far as you can with me!" Allura snapped. "You can't have my heart, you can't force my love. The only thing this single minded pursuit inspires is my disgust! You..."

A crackle of sound interrupted her, a corner of the window turning into a view screen. She turned to glance that way, seeing the apologetic face of one of the crew that maintain the ship's many functions, including it's flight capability.

"Princess..." said the woman, and Allura actually growled at her, her anger at Lotor still clinging to her strongly.

"WHAT?"

The woman seemed to flinch, taken aback by her princess' hostility. "We are estimating to withdraw from hyper drive in the next five minutes."

"Wonderful." Lotor said, but even his voice sounded angry.

"Thank you for letting me know." Allura said, feeling a glumness settle into her. The woman on the view screen seemed to hesitate, Allura sensing she had more to say. "Yes? What is it?"

"We've been trying to get in contact with planet Doom for the past twenty minutes." The woman said. "There's been...no answer."

"What?" A glance Lotor's way showed the prince frowning. Allura was also frowning, knowing that it was dangerous to approach Doom without contacting them and stating your intentions towards the planet.

"It's standard practice for Doom to answer any and all hailings." Lotor was muttering. "Even if it's just to demand the ships' surrender."

"Could something have happened?" Allura wondered out loud.

"Something had to have." Lotor replied, and worry flashed in his eyes. And then he was rattling off his father's private number. "Put the call through. My father will surely answer."

"Yes, your highness." The woman said, and was replaced by a blank screen. Lotor and Allura continued to stare, the prince bristling with agitation as the call continued to go unanswered.

"Damn..." Lotor swore. "He never lets a call to this number go unanswered. Allura, I have a bad feeling about this..."

"So do I." She admitted, watching the lights of hyper drive start to flicker and fade. They were slowly drawing out of it, the ships leaving warp space to return to normal speeds. The space they were exiting into should have been empty, but suddenly the ships veered to the left, Allura and Lotor falling over, his crutch clattering against the floor.

Allura had time to look before she fell, having seen what looked to be a large Doom war cruiser floating too close to where the Arusians ships had exited. And then she was down on the floor, shoving at Lotor, who had landed on top of her. He moved, but they remained a tangle of legs, Allura glancing up and gasping.

The space around them was a graveyard, hundreds, maybe thousands of broken ships floating around the planet Doom. Large, behemoth sized monstrosities were torn apart in places, and she could see bodies floating out of their forced openings. The bodies were all Drule in coloring, and some floated past the windows of the viewing deck, allowing Allura to see the fear stricken expressions the soldiers had died wearing.

There was plenty of large ships, those used for defense, those that carried the smaller fighter craft, and the large vessels that were armed with heavy artillery. And all just hung there, propelled forward not by their engines, but by the pull of space. Some ships weren't broken in half, but had their metal blackened from the many explosions that they had been bombarded with.

"No..." Lotor had gotten his fill of looking, a stunned expression on his face. His mouth opened and closed, but he said nothing more, his good hand forming a fist. He was currently looking at the bodies that had floated too close to the Arusian ships, and one bumped into the window before bouncing off into the opposite direction. A smear of blood was left on the window, Allura fighting back her urge to be ill at this senseless display of brutality.

"NO!" Lotor shouted, and was struggling, trying to get up on his own. His hand reached for the bench, trying to pull himself up when Allura remembered to move. Shock still filled her, but she had enough sense to try and help Lotor to his feet, the prince hopping away from her once he was upright. She fetched the crutch, but he was already doing that awkward hop limp towards the railing, apparently wanting a close look at the carnage.

Alarms were ringing through out the Arusian ship, and she could see the escorts were launching fighter jets. That frightened her, Allura wondering if those responsible for this slaughter was still out there. Their ship and it's escorts had slowed to a crawl, maneuvering careful over the debris of the destroyed Doom armadas. Bodies continued to float pass, and some weren't as whole as the one who had bounced into the window.

Allura felt ill to see the severed limbs, and ripped open torsos that floated past, some of them having their intestines dangling in a gruesome display. She found herself gripping Lotor's crutch to her chest, as though it could shield her from what had happened. It could not, Allura watching as the lights of the ships passed over the side of a largely intact carrier.

There was a symbol scorched into the metal, the blackened emblem unmistakable. "The Keraclon." Allura whispered as Lotor clenched his jaw, and gripped the railing even harder. There seemed to be nothing more that could be said, the word hanging in the air, making all who heard it, shiver in fear.

To Be Continued...

Michelle

Lotor Sincline, thanks! I had a difficult time deciding between if it should be a vaccine or something else that was the key to being able to fight back against the Keraclon. I'm glad I went with the vaccine, though very early on I even thought of this weird idea of special metal to build ships out of. Recently I even had the thought it could be they had nanatech surgery...but I'm glad I went with the vaccine route. :) I hope you still think the trip to Doom proved interesting, especially with this twist I just threw at ya! It was so hard to keep a secret!


	20. Chapter 20

It had taken some time to maneuver past the wrecked remains of Doom's once glorious armadas. The space had been crowded with the broken ruins of ships, making it difficult to draw near enough to the planet to begin their descent down to it's surface. Allura wondered why they bothered. After all, it wasn't like they could not guess at the devastation that awaited them on the planet's surface. The Keraclon were not known for leaving survivors, turning whole civilizations out, and leaving only ruins behind.

Sometimes, not even that, Allura gazing out the view screen window as the ship passed over what Lotor had insisted had once been a city. But there were no buildings, not even the broken remains of them. The homes where the Drules had lived, the offices they had worked in, the towering sky scrapers all gone. They had been reduced to rubble, ground into a fine powder that was scorched black all over.

It was similar to other spots on the planet, the once fine cities of Doom now nothing more than blackened soot and gray powder. No one could have survived such devastation. Perhaps no one would want to. And yet Lotor insisted they keep searching, the ships from Arus traveling from one city coordinate to another. They cast searchlights on the ground beneath them, though no one hoped to find anything significant.

Lotor was barely talking during all this. He stayed rooted to the spot on the viewing deck, the wrap around windows offering him an unobstructed view of the nothingness that had once been planet Doom's cities. His good hand held the railing that separated him from the windows, the color bleeding out of his knuckles from how tight he gripped the bar. His expression was one of tightlipped anger, his eyes dulling from their normal golden brilliance. Sometimes Allura swore he was in a state of shock. The other times she thought he was barely controlled fury, the prince angry and looking for a target.

But the Keraclon were gone from this planet. And even if they had remained, the ships from Arus would have been no match for an armada of the fearsome aliens. It left Lotor with no one to vent his rage on, and Allura could only wonder what would happen when the anger got to be too much for Lotor.

She stood to the right of him, just out of his reach. Allura gave him constant side long glances, trying to judge just where his mood was as each new landmark was proven to no longer exist. He seemed barely able to breathe, Allura likening him to a statue from how little he moved. He never once glanced at her, Lotor staring straight ahead. It was as though he had to witness for himself the end of each and every city on planet Doom.

The searchlights continued to scan over the ground, but there was nothing to be found. Everything had been turned to powder, from the people's skeletons, to the items of their every day lives. It wasn't just the people that were gone, or their history. Even the few carnivores that had made Doom their home, they too had vanished. Had they been vaporized by the Keraclon's attacks? Or were they wisely hiding away far away from the cities?

Allura started, a thought coming to her. She remembered when Doom had attacked Arus over sixteen years ago. Back when her father had died. The cities had been destroyed then, many of her people enslaved. But some had managed to escape, disappearing into the caves. They had lived underground for years, never daring to come out into the light until Arus' hope had been restored. Even then it had taken quite a bit of coaxing from Allura and the Voltron Force to give the people of Arus the encouragement and reassurance they needed to emerge above ground.

"Lotor..." She turned to him now, trying to quell the excited hope running through her. "Isn't there somewhere your people could have gone? Some place they could have hidden? Some place where there might be survivors?"

He didn't even look at her, just staring out the window. Allura wondered if he had even heard what she was asking, the prince seeming lost in his own private misery. She didn't dare draw closer to him, frightened of what would happen if she should lay a hand on him when he was like this. Cold, angry, seeming unreachable.

"On Arus we have caves...whole underground tunnels. My people often hide in them whenever a threat would present itself to Arus." Still no reaction, not even a flicker of interest from her husband. Allura felt frustrated, staring at him for one long moment before turning away.

He didn't try to stop her from leaving. Lotor just stayed rooted to the spot, his thoughts guarded even from her. She held in her sighs, Allura casting one last glance over her shoulder at him and to the view in front of him. They were nearing what had to be the border of the city, the black and gray powder giving way to reddish brown clay that stretched on for miles. She knew it would continue like that until they reached the next city, with only a few rocks, or even a canyon to break up the evenness of the clay landscape.

She didn't want to see another ruined city. Nor did Allura want to stand in the uncomfortable silence that Lotor insisted on maintaining. She walked away from him, navigating her way through the many twisting and turning corridors of the ship. There were people in the halls, and they were tense, and unsmiling. Doom had always been Arus' enemy, but no one had wished an entire people to be wiped out.

Allura shivered, thinking again that the Keraclon were evil personified. They had to be, to do such a thing. And not just to Doom, but to countless other worlds. Arus would end up the same if the scientists didn't discover how to replicate the vaccine that was in Lotor's blood. Even now they worked tirelessly at this task, motivated by the sight of what had happened to Doom.

Allura hoped-prayed they would find the answers the galaxy so desperately needed. And find them fast. It wouldn't take that much longer for the Keraclon to track Lotor down to Arus. They needed the vaccine, needed it replicated, and injected into every able bodied fighter. But more than that, they needed Lance to find Keith, to bring back both black lion and it's pilot. Voltron was the main defense of planet Arus. Without it, even with the vaccine, the Arusians probably wouldn't be able to fight off the Keraclon's armada.

She expected the Galaxy Alliance to send back up to planet Arus. But Allura knew that back up was contingent on the vaccine being recreated. The men and women of Galaxy Garrison would need to be inoculated against the Keraclon's fear waves before they could be of any help to Arus. Otherwise they would just be throwing their lives away if they fought the Keraclon as is.

Allura debated on visiting the scientists to find out first hand what progress they had made. But she didn't know if her interest would give them the motivation needed to push onwards, or only hinder them further. They probably had enough pressure as it was, and didn't need their princess breathing down their necks, demanding results. They already knew what was at stake, what depended on their actions. She need not further burden them with her presence.

The people in the ship's corridors weren't really talking. Pale faces would look Allura's way, eyes haunted by what they had discovered on Doom. She had no words to reassure them, or herself. It was all she could do to meet their eyes, her own gaze clear of the inner turmoil she suffered with. She tried not to blame herself for what had happened. And in truth it wasn't her fault, at least not entirely. Allura knew that Lotor had been adamant about not revealing the secret to the Keraclon's defeat until he gained her hand in marriage. And yet Allura couldn't help but wonder if Doom's destruction could have been avoided if she had given in just days earlier.

But, and this was important. She also knew that Lotor himself had had the chance to tell her without trying to cut a deal. If he hadn't been so insistent his demands be met, they could have been working on the vaccine days earlier. Perhaps early enough for Doom to be saved. Truly Lotor had no one to blame but himself, and yet Allura felt pity for him. He had lost his home world. He has lost friends, family. Allura wondered if Lotor even realized who was truly to blame for what had happened to Doom. How much worse would his pain become? She didn't know, and Allura was surprised to find it worried her.

Allura didn't think Lotor was the type of man to hurt himself. It didn't fit the profiles she had read about him. Nor did it match up to her limited experience dealing with the prince face to face. But this was a loss unlike anything she could imagine surviving through. He would need an outlet, and if he didn't turn on himself, he would turn on others. She was fearful of that, Allura prepared to make arrangements to somehow incapacitate Lotor until his pain had somewhat eased.

But she never got the chance to, one of the communication's room's crew approaching her. "Yes?" Allura asked, watching as the woman did a hasty bow to her. "What is it?"

"It's a message from Castle Control." The woman explained. "His lordship, Coran, wishes to speak to you."

Allura nodded, realizing she had been neglecting her duties. She should have contacted Coran at once upon learning what had happened to Doom. But shock had taken her mind, leaving her to stand gaping besides Lotor. But that could be remedied now, Allura walking at a brisk pace to the communication's room. She realized she still wasn't thinking all that clearly, for she could have just as easily taken the call in her private room. But she didn't want to delay things any further now that she was in the communication's room.

There was only a handful of people present inside the room. Most sat behind consoles, overseeing the various calls from one section of the ship to another. One man monitored the communication between ships, and another quickly patched Coran call through to a private console. Allura took a seat behind the console, looking down at the small monitor. Coran's expression was grave. She knew he had no good news for her even before he spoke.

"Princess Allura...I am so sorry you had to bear witness to what has happened to planet Doom."

"It's terrible Coran." Allura said, her voice without inflection. She would not cry, would not allow a quiver of emotion to break her voice. "There's nothing left of Doom...The Drule...the Drule are..."

"The Drule are not entirely wiped out." He was quick to remind her. "There are many, numbering in the millions, that live on. They are spread out among the planets that were-are part of the Doom Empire. Lotor is not the last of his kind..."

"He will be if we cannot replicate the vaccine and soon." Allura told him. "Our scientists have yet to make a break through..."

"I'm sure they just need some more time..."

"Time we don't have!" Allura retorted. "The Keraclon will be coming to Arus, if they're not already on their way."

"The Keraclon are searching for Lotor...and anyone he has come in contact with." She felt dread to hear that, Allura eyeing Coran nervously. His lips seemed to turn down even more, the man's mustache rustling as he sighed. "Several Alliance worlds have been wiped out since you left for Doom."

"What?" Her eyes widened, her heart beat faster in dismay.

"The Keraclon followed the leads they got from the hospital on planet Zegabob. Those who had gone on off world leave were tracked down...I'm sure you can ascertain what happened next."

Allura's right hand formed a fist. It took all her strength not to bring it down hard on the console. She knew the crew was watching her, and she couldn't afford to show how upset she was. "It won't ever stop will it?" She whispered softly.

"Pardon?"

"The Keraclon will keep coming. They will kill any and everyone to keep the secret of the vaccine from getting out." She sighed then. "We have no choice but to wipe them out..."

Coran looked at her, dark eyes serious and sad. "It's never an easy decision to wipe out an entire race..."

"Not for us humans." Allura said. "The Keraclon are a different matter, easily committing genocide on every world they invade." That fact should have made it easier what she had decided. But it didn't. Allura loathed killing, hated the violence of it, the finality of it. She thought a part of her very soul had blackened with the decision she had made, and yet she couldn't cry. Not when she thought of Zegabob, of Doom, of all the other worlds Coran had not given names to. The worlds the Keraclon had destroyed. The worlds that would never flourish again.

"Come back to Arus." Coran urged. "There's no reason to linger there on Doom..."

"We'll return shortly." Allura told him. "The prince is not yet done with his...he's not done surveying the damage."

"How is he?" Coran wanted to know.

"I couldn't say for certain. He's stopped speaking to me, doesn't even acknowledge my words." Allura unclenched her fist. "He just stands there and stares at the ruins...anger and disbelief competing for dominance."

"Do you think he's a danger...?"

"To himself or to another?" Allura shrugged. "All that anger, that pain...it's going to come out. One way or another..."

"Take care Allura." Coran advised. "Do not allow him to place you in harm's way. Or...himself." She was surprised at that last, wondering why Coran cared. His lips twitched beneath the mustache, but it was no smile he fought. "The Doom Empire doesn't yet know what has happened to the home world. But they can remain oblivious for only so long. And when they do, there will be a scramble for power. Lotor will need to pull himself together, to stand strong for the remains of the Empire."

"What are you saying?" Allura asked, brow furrowed in confusion. "You want Lotor to be in charge of the remains of the Doom Empire?"

"Better the devil we know, than one we don't." Answered Coran. "If a leader emerges from the Drule nobility, they might not be willing to honor the treaty you made with Lotor. We might have a new tyrant on our hands...Lotor is an infinitely better choice as ruler..."

"Why?" Allura asked, a wry twist to her lips. "Because you think I can control him through his love for me?"

"Yes." Coran answered without hesitation. "And through that love, we might be able to usher in an age of peace for the Denubian Galaxy. The Doom Empire and the planets of the Galaxy Alliance no longer warring against each other."

"I don't know if I can even imagine what real peace would feel like..." She said softly. "Or if Lotor's so called love can survive the devastation of his home world..." Coran looked confused at that, Allura sighing. "He might blame me Coran. For what happened to Doom. Might insist that if I had given in to his demands sooner, this would have never happened..."

"You'll just have to make him see that is not true." Insisted Coran. She noted the advisor was careful not to lay the blame completely on Lotor either. It would take delicate handling of the prince and the situation, to keep him from exploding in anger. To keep the pain from inflicting deeper wounds within him. Allura wondered if she could manage the kind of care Lotor might need at the moment.

"I'll try..." Allura said. But her voice held her doubts.

"It's all anyone can ask of you." Coran reassured her. She wished she could smile, even a weak glimmer of one. But it was too serious a mood, the devastation of Doom too real, too raw.

"Coran..." A new worry had come to her. Coran looking instantly alert. "Does the rest of the Doom Empire even know that Lotor is still alive? I mean...the whole time he was on Arus, his father assumed he had died on that outpost of Doom's. Zarkon may not have had a chance to get the word out that his son had survived...and even if he did, with Doom destroyed...the other worlds will assume the worse..."

"I will get to work right away making an official announcement that the prince still lives." Coran told her. "We don't want to cause galaxy wide panic with what has happened to Doom and the other Alliance worlds, but perhaps if instead we use the announcement of your marriage to him..."

"That would get the word out." Allura agreed. She wasn't even that bothered at the thought of the marriage being made public.

"Then with your permission, I shall make the ready the castle's official statement on this matter."

She nodded, but Allura wasn't done with Coran just yet. "One more thing..." She was pretty sure it was useless to ask him this. His expression wouldn't have been

so grave, he would have told her immediately if there had been some news. And yet she had to hear it from him herself, Allura not wanting to linger on speculations based on how he looked and acted.

"Yes, princess?" Coran waited, ever patient for her question.

"Has there been any word from Lance?" She asked without hope. "Has he found Keith? Or the black lion?"

A pause, Coran blowing out a deep breath. "Lance has been in regular contact with the castle. But as for the matter of Ketih and black lion...there has been nothing."

"Nothing." She repeated dully.

"I do not know what has happen to the captain..." Coran continued. "But I do not want to think the worse."

"Neither do I Coran." Allura sighed. "But what other excuse can there be?"

"His lion could have been knocked offline...he could have lost power and communication capabilities."

"Do you really believe that Coran?" She wanted and yet didn't want to believe. Allura didn't think she could handle it if her hopes were dashed where Keith's survival was concerned.

"It's better than believing in the alternative." Coran answered tiredly. Allura wondered about that. What was better? To hang onto such hope, or to let go? Regardless, Keith's return would be useless if the vaccine wasn't ready by the time he got back.

"Do try to hurry back to Arus, at your earliest convenience" urged Coran.

"Of course." Allura nodded. "I don't think we will delay past this night on Doom..." By then Lotor should have seen all he could ever want to. "Good bye for now Coran."

"Good bye princess..." He barely got out the words, Allura already switching off the console. But she didn't rise up from her seat, instead sitting there staring off in the distance. Coran had given her much to think about. She wondered if she could get through to Lotor any time soon. If he would break free of whatever pain and anger that held him fast in their grips.

The fate of the Doom Empire, and possibly the galaxy's peace might rest on Lotor's ability to get over what had happened. As the crown prince he didn't have the luxury to mope about for long. Allura knew only too well the burdens that came with the crown. One always had to present a mask to those who surrounded them, to appear unaffected by bad news. At least in public.

_~I can try to be there for him.~ _Allura decided, nodding to herself. She could try to be the shoulder he turned to for comfort in private. She might not be able to help him get over the pain, and the anger, but she could be there to listen to him.

She stood up, her determination showing on Allura's face. The crew inside the communication's room pretended not to have been listening to her talks with Coran, busying themselves with their own consoles. Allura didn't care what they had heard, the princess turning to speak to the woman who had brought her to this room. "Get the command deck on screen." Allura ordered. "Have them scan any and all surfaces for any signs of life..."

'Yes, princess." came the answer. Allura couldn't smile, it wasn't yet time for that. But maybe, if they were lucky, some people would have escaped the cities. The scans would find them if they had. It was a long shot, but Allura was willing to try it. The survivors might be enough to draw Lotor out of his shell. They might be the first step towards healing the pain he felt.

To Be Continued...

Glad to have this chapter over with. X_X

Michelle

KMS5665, my...such strong feelings the last chapter's reveal inspired. But no one deserves that to happen to them, even if they were doing bad things. And you must remember, it wasn't just the Drules (Which I'm sure there was Drules who were innocent of Doom's crimes) but all the slaves, human and other wise who also bit it when the planet got wiped by the Keraclon. But it is a harsh lesson for Lotor, that is true...


	21. Chapter 21

There was no survivors that their scans could find. If any Drule still lived on Doom, they had gone to ground, hidden well beyond the capabilities of the ships scanners. The technology of the Arusian ships were never as advanced as that of the Drules, or even that of the Alliance. But Allura didn't think that the outcome would have been different even if they had had the newest of equipment on board the ships. It was just fact, depressing though it was, that every last man, woman, child and slave had died on planet Doom.

It was horrific, and needless. Just one more example of the evil that seemed to be inherent in the Keraclon race. They had no mercy. Allura wondered if they were even capable of feeling anything but malice. This went beyond simply cruelty. The Keraclon were a murderous race, parasites that leeched away all good from every world they visited. A part of her knew the Keraclon were struggling to survive the only way they knew how, but the rest of her didn't care. Not when they did such heartless acts.

Allura didn't often like to think of the Keraclon. No one really did. But now she wondered why they couldn't have found a better way for themselves. A way that didn't involve using up a planet, and killing off the people who had spent a millennia living on it's surface. She wanted to know why the Keraclon hadn't bothered to reach out for help from their neighbors, why they had insisted on invasion and genocide instead.

Allura was sure the Galaxy Alliance would have helped the Keraclon when they first appeared in the Denubian Galaxy. If and only if the Keraclon had reached out for help, rather than going about their destructive, murderous ways. Now there would be no attempts to reach out to them, no more reasoning and trying to find a way for them all to get along. The Keraclon would be wiped out, God willing, and the galaxy would settle back into a semblance of peace.

It was truly a survival matter. The Denubian's survival against the Keraclon's. Allura could even understand why the Keraclon were so desperate to find Lotor. They had to know that each day Lotor was allowed to live, was one day that brought the Keraclon closer to their own demise. But it didn't excuse anything the Keraclon did, the loss of whole planets full of people a crime too great to be forgiven.

There was a saying on Earth. Allura often heard Keith and the other members of the Voltron Force speak of it. That only the strong survived in a survival of the fittest. Allura was determined to prove to the Keraclon that the people of the Denubian Galaxy would be stronger than any threat of theirs. Stronger as they joined forces together to not only beat back the Keraclon, but to exterminate every last one of them.

It would be the first time Allura would actively advocate the idea of committing genocide on an entire race of beings. She didn't feel good about this decision of hers, but she knew it was necessary if the innocents of the Denubian Galaxy were to continue living. She'd worry about the cost to her soul later, when the danger wasn't so imminent.

She wondered where the Keraclon were now. What world they had targeted next. They had been tracking Lotor, but when their lead died on planet Zegabob, they had traveled to the next obvious place the prince might have gone to. Planet Doom. Did they even know Lotor had not been there? Or did they think they had killed the prince when they destroyed the planet? If they didn't, the Keraclon would be scrambling to locate him. Where would they go next? To one of the many holdings of the Doom Empire? Or would they continue to attack Alliance worlds?

They didn't seem to know Lotor and the Voltron Force had met up. But it was only a matter of time before the Keraclon made the connection. Arus would be endangered, might even now be the next destination of the Keraclon. It was with this worry that Allura had her ships leave planet Doom, well before night had fallen. She wanted nothing to delay their return to Arus, and Allura had the scientists onboard working overtime to decipher the mysteries of the vaccine in Lotor's blood.

They were all desperate to find the key, to have the vaccine prepared. Two days wasn't a lot of time, but they all felt frustrated at the lack of progress the scientists had made so far. It would take another two days, even traveling at top speed in hyperspace, for the ships to return to Arus. Allura wondered if by some miracle the scientists would find the break through needed.

There were other things to consider, and they might almost be as pressing as the situation with the Keraclon. The remains of the Doom Empire did not yet know what had happened to the home world. But they had to suspect something was amiss, the communication grids down. It wouldn't be long before ships were sent to the planet to inquire what was happening. And then the truth would be out, Doom's devastation known throughout the Empire.

Lotor would need to pull himself together, all in order to keep the Empire from splitting into several factions that warred against each other. Without a capable leader, certain nobles would turned greedier, grasping for power. And right now a Drule power play was the last thing the Denubian Galaxy needed!

Coran would see to getting out the word that Lotor still lived, although he hadn't yet put the marriage announcement through official channels. They hadn't wanted to draw the Keraclon's attention to Arus, especially this fast. If the Keraclon didn't know where Lotor was, they would once the marriage announcement flooded the airwaves. And yet they couldn't keep the Doom Empire in the dark indefinitely about their crown prince's status.

It was a tricky line to walk, and whatever path they chose, there would be consequences. It was Allura's hope they could keep the Empire from discovering what had happened to Doom long enough for the vaccine to be successfully recreated. Then it wouldn't matter if the Keraclon knew about Lotor. Arus and the Alliance would be ready and able to fight back the threat.

Of course, Allura also hoped that Lotor would recover from his pain and shock by then. If he couldn't get over his grief, she feared he would be useless at uniting the remains of the Empire. The Drules would need Lotor to be strong, to be there for them. He couldn't stay withdrawn forever. And it was with that thought that Allura approached the bedroom that had been given to the prince. She was nervous and unsure, a fluttery feeling of butterflies in her stomach. But Allura was determined to try and reach through to him, to get him past enough of the pain so that he could function.

She carried a covered tray with her, a simple meal she had brought up from the ship's commissary. Allura had learned Lotor hadn't eaten since early this morning, the shock of his home world's destruction stealing his appetite. She didn't think he would be in the mood for more than a few bites, but knew he couldn't allow himself to weaken by starving himself.

Allura didn't know if it was good or bad that Lotor had retired to his bedroom. She hoped the change of scenery would somehow improve his outlook. He had spent far too many hours on the viewing deck, glued to the railing that separated him from the windows. The few times she had checked in on him, Lotor hadn't moved. Always he just stood there, a grim faced statue that stared at the desolate remains of his world.

She couldn't begin to imagine what went through his mind as he stood there. The situation was alien to her, Allura knowing if the roles had been reversed she would have never held back the information she had known, no matter what. There simply would have been nothing she could want more than to ensure the safety of her people and her home world. She just wasn't that kind of selfish person. The kind of selfish Lotor had demonstrated time and time again since his rescue that first time from the Keraclon.

Holding back a sigh, she shifted the tray to a one handed grip. Her right hand free, she overrode the locking mechanism's code. The door slid open with a hiss, darkness looming before her. Allura stared uncertainly into the room, unable to see anything beyond the entrance where the hall's light spilled inside. Had Lotor left his room in the time it took her to fetch a meal for him?

"Lotor?" She called out softly, a quiver to her voice. No actual response, but she thought she heard the faintest sound of breath being exhaled. Squaring her shoulders, Allura stepped inside the room and only after she had hit the light switch did she allow the door to slide shut.

She blinked at the sudden change of light, the room flooded with it's bright yellow glow. And over in the corner, seated before a round table was the prince. He was blinking too, but other than that he had no reaction to her arrival. Allura hid a frown, noticing a half filled glass of some bronze colored liquid standing by his hand.

"Have you been drinking?" She asked out loud, her displeasure apparent. He hadn't had anything to eat all day! Drinking on an empty stomach was the fastest way to get smashed, even for a Drule.

He didn't look at her, didn't respond to the upset in her voice. He just stared at the wall, seeing something she couldn't. This time Allura did sigh, inching closer to his table. "I brought you something to eat..." She held up the tray as proof of this but his eyes did not even flicker towards her. "I wasn't sure what you'd want, so I brought you a little of everything..."

Reaching the table, she set the tray down but made no move to uncover it. She was too busy studying Lotor, looking for signs that he had understood what she had said. His eyes held a kind of glassy sheen to them, but that could be attributed to the drinks. Allura was relieved to see they weren't vacant, that he hadn't turned inwards in some bid to escape his pain.

"Have you...rested any at all?" She asked. Lotor's silence unsettled her, leaving Allura scrambling for things to say. She wasn't used to not getting a response from him, Lotor always quick with comments. "That's not a good idea." Allura added when he used his good hand to lift up the glass. She made no attempt to hide her frown as he began to drink from the glass, the liquid disappearing at an astonishing rate. "How many have you already had?" She demanded, not really expecting an answer. She got one all the same, Lotor's voice hoarse and unhappy.

"Not enough."

She blinked quickly, but had a retort ready for him. "You know no matter how much you drink...it's not going to make this any better." As if in direct challenge to her words, he finished off the drink. "You can drink all the alcohol on board this ship, and it won't change what has happened. It won't make the pain any less..."

"Will it make me forget?" He wanted to know. "Even for a little while...?"

"I don't think what happened to Doom is something anyone can forget that easily. No matter what we try to do, no matter how many brain cells we kill off with this poison." Allura answered. His expression remained the same, Lotor stone face and guarded. "Nor should we try to forget..." His eyebrows lifted, the only hint of his surprise. "It would be an insult to Doom, to the people of the planet to forget what's happened to them."

"An insult..." Lotor repeated.

"We must never forget...only then can we..." Lotor suddenly slammed his good hand on the table, the action startling Allura into momentary silence. She gaped at him as he growled, his eyes narrowed at he looked at her.

"I don't want to remember! I don't want to think on what happened, to have these feelings!"

"What feelings?" She prodded with a whisper. He scared her with his anger, but Allura thought it was better than him just sitting there saying and doing nothing. "Lotor, the pain might never stop if you don't talk about it..."

"Talk?" His lips curled back, Lotor sneering then. "What good is talking? It won't change what has happened! Won't turn back time and keep Doom from being destroyed!"

"It's true we can't change what has happened, but...and this is important. We can keep you from destroying YOURSELF!" Allura pointed out. "The pain, the feelings will only tear you up inside...it's not healthy to keep such things locked away..."

"Why are you here?" Lotor asked instead. She blinked, surprised. "Why do you even care?" Her mouth opened and closed, Allura unsure what if anything she could say.

"I..."

"You?" He openly mocked when she was unable to continue. And yet Allura didn't look away, keeping her gaze concerned and intent on him.

"Your people need you." She finally said, and he seemed to twitch with anger.

"My people are..."

"Spread out among the many worlds in the Doom Empire. They will be frightened when they learn what has happened to your home world." Allura pointed out. "They will need your guidance, need to see that their leader is strong and capable."

"But I'm not..." He whispered.

"You've suffered a major blow...but you are not dead. And if you don't allow your feelings, your grief to incapacitate you...then you can still lead. Still be the strong figure the Empire needs to survive such a loss." He just stared at her, and she allowed the slightest hint of smile to tease her lips. "Who else is going to be able to do what is needed? Who else but you?"

Lotor leaned back in his seat but Allura couldn't tell if he was thinking over what she had asked. She didn't want to press him, but he had to be made aware of the danger the Empire face if the nobles should break out into fighting over the remains.

"Doom may be gone." Allura added. "But the Empire is still out there. Don't let it fade away with the home world...don't let it be torn apart by those who would try to seize power for their own desires."

She wasn't above playing to his own greed, that inherent possessiveness that all Drules seemed to have. Allura hoped to see that possessiveness flare to life in Lotor's eyes, for the prince to announce no one would steal his kingdom from him. She actually yearned to see the fire burn in him, righteous indignation at the thought of someone taking what had been meant to be his. It would be infinitely better than this suffocating wave of depression he had about him.

Allura thought she saw a glimmer in Lotor's eyes. Was he rising to the challenge the nobles would present him? She didn't know, and kept pushing, hoping to spur him on further. "The Drules may be spread out across the Denubian Galaxy but...the spirit of the people will live on. In you, in each other. They'll keep their beliefs, theirs customs, their goals...even their history. Doom and it's people may be gone, but they need never be forgotten..."

Just as sudden as it had come, the glimmer faded, Lotor sagging in his seat. Allura wasn't quite sure what she had said to extinguish it, though she tried to keep from frowning. To that end she uncovered the tray, hoping the sight and smell of the meal she had brought would somehow entice the prince into eating.

"You really should eat something." Allura told him, spearing a piece of roasted beef with a fork. "You'll feel better once you do..." As though he was a child, she brought the fork to his lips, ready to coax him into taking a bite of the beef on it's tines.

He growled at her, good arm lashing out to knock away the fork and her arm. She gasped and gaped at him, Lotor's anger almost frightening. Even more so when he grabbed the tray, food and all and flung it violently across the room. The food smeared down the wall, and the tray clattered to the floor. Allura's own chair hit the floor, the princess having scrambled to her feet at the exact instant Lotor stood.

She was frightened of what he would do, remembering her earlier concerns that his bottled up emotions might eventual lead to a violent outburst. Was this the explosion of anger she had been fearing? "Lotor..."

When he stepped towards her, Allura backed up. Her heart hammered in her chest, Allura fearing what he would do. She could smell the brandy on his breath, could see the play of volatile emotions on his face. He was struggling with so many emotions, none of them positive. He was unpredictable and dangerous, a man on edge. A man who felt he had lost one thing too many. She didn't understand him, he was too alien to her. Allura had often tried to help the people of her planet cope with their losses, sometimes with success. But they had always had that human understanding. She had no reassurance with Lotor, knowing he had proven so often how different, how foreign his thinking was in comparison to hers.

Had it been wrong of her to try and help him deal with the pain of his loss? She didn't know. Would it have been better to bring a Drule here, one equipped to deal with the prince's anger? One who would be able to relate to Lotor's nature? Again she could not say. There had been no one available to them, no other candidate but Allura that could have had any modicum of success in reaching the prince.

She continued to back up, watching as the prince stalked her every move. Even if he struck out now, hurting her in an attempt to share whatever pain he was experiencing, Allura couldn't regret reaching out to someone in need. It was simply her nature to try and help, even if the person who needed help was her enemy. Allura couldn't let Lotor go on suffering if there was anything she could do to lessen the pain. It was with that knowledge that she ceased her attempts to back away from him. But she didn't freeze in place, eyes wide as she stared into his face. Searching for something she could reach, something past his current rage. Something that could temper his anger, and soothe his pain.

She fought not to bite down on her bottom lip, gearing up her nerves. He was like a savage beast that needed taming in this moment. Allura might not have what was needed to calm him. But Allura was also aware she was the only one onboard this ship that might stand a chance against him. Never taking her eyes off him, she bravely stepped forward her hand reaching out to him.

Lotor actually flinched when her hand did the briefest of touches on his cheek. But he didn't strike her, didn't try to dodge her touch, or push her away. That knowledge emboldened Allura, the princess planting her hand more firmly on his cheek. He stared at her, and then his eyes were closing, a held breath escaping between them. She stood before him, fingers caressing his cupped cheek. She didn't say a word, just tried to calm him with her touch. It would be meaningless to say everything was going to be okay. Not this early, and not with everything so unsure. Doom might not be the last planet to suffer destruction at the Keraclon's hands, the vaccine might never be replicated in time to do them or Arus any good.

Allura couldn't think about that then. It would show on her face, her upset triggering a reaction in Lotor. Now was not the time to focus on anything but sending calming thoughts to him. To let a calmness she didn't truly feel wash over them both. She didn't focus on anything but the fact that Lotor was hurting. Didn't try to wonder if he blamed her as much as he probably blamed himself for Doom's destruction. There was only this moment, no one saying anything, no one hurling accusations, or laying blame.

She continued to gently stroke his cheek, watching as his eyes fluttered open. But slowly, as though he was reluctant to see who was standing before him. His good hand came up, Lotor covering her hand with his own. Holding it there, his heat melding with the heat of her hand. The crutch he had been so dependent on fell to the floor, forgotten for the moment.

Lotor's lips parted, he looked like he so desperately wanted to say something. But then they closed, not even a sound escaping him. But he didn't let go of her hand, trailing his fingers downwards to grasp hold of her wrist. Allura thought the worse had passed, and thus was caught off guard when his fingers locked like a vise around her wrist. Pulling her off balance, she crashed into him, Allura putting out her other hand against his chest. They still fell, tumbling down to the floor. She winced, sure such jostling couldn't be good for Lotor's injured arm. But he didn't make a sound of complaint, instead maneuvering things so that not only was she crushed against him, but she ended up pinned beneath him.

He no longer needed to hold her hand, Lotor's weight easily keeping her trapped. That hand of his went to her hair, fisting whole segments of it as he eased her head back. He stared down at her, and Allura found she couldn't be completely afraid. Not with that raw look of pain in his eyes. He looked almost blind with it, so open and honest was the pain.

Allura found herself licking dry lips, her heart beat increasing it's tempo once more. She was aware something had changed, he was no longer angry though she knew the anger could come back at any time. It would be boiling just under the surface, his moods changing, ricocheting from one extreme to another. She hadn't tamed the beast, she had just diverted it's emotions down another path. But where that path would ultimately lead she wasn't entirely sure. Especially with Lotor just staring at her, eyes never blinking.

She didn't dare speak, not sure what would happen if voices were brought into this. Lotor continued to hold onto her hair, but even if the pressure of his grip hadn't been there, Allura wouldn't have looked away. His pain deserved to be acknowledged. If only by her.

He continued to stare, and some part of Allura realized he was searching her face. But for what she did not know. If she had, Allura would have shown it to him. If only to reassure Lotor that he needn't go through this loss alone.

Just as suddenly as he had brought them down to the floor, Lotor pressed his lips to her throat. She had to fight to keep her brow from furrowing. The grip on her hair pulled more insistent, commanding her to offer up her throat to Lotor's lips. She gave in, more bewildered than grudging and heard Lotor moan. The sound was all things and not, sexual, hurting, even anger. His fangs grazed over her skin, and Lotor pressed his weight more firmly on her. Allura wasn't sure what was going on, where this as going, what Lotor really wanted to do.

When her hands raised to touch him, he growled. The sound was feral, a warning. She heeded it, dropping her hands to lay flat on the floor. His face ended up in the crook of her shoulder, Lotor breathing in deeply of her. He muttered something then, but it was too muffled, too low voiced to properly make out. He continued to smell her, to the point she nearly relaxed.

But then Lotor was shifting on top of her, his good hand reaching down between their bodies. Allura stiffened when she heard the zipper being eased down, Lotor continuing to mutter unintelligible things as he worked to free himself of his pants. A growl escaped him when she began to move her hands, but this time she ignored the fright it stirred in her.

Instead Allura reached up to wrap her arms around Lotor, pulling him down against her. His hand stilled, his eyes seemed to focus, seeing her without the pain. Allura couldn't quite smile at him. "Is this what you need Lotor?" She asked softly. "Is this what you really need to feel better?" Allura wasn't exactly offering herself to him. She wasn't prepared to be the vessel in which he buried all his pain and anger into. But she was curious. The Drules were so different from the humans, with their own laws and beliefs, and ways of coping. Maybe sex was just one of those ways, or maybe it was just the only way Lotor knew how to relate to the slightest bit of sympathy.

Whatever the case, she waited for his answer, never breaking the hug. He stared down at her, and then his eyes lowered, Lotor collapsing on top of her. He didn't start to cry, but she felt the tremors shake him. His emotions, his pain still had him in their grip, leaving him trembling uncontrollably. She kept right on hugging him, and all the while she wondered if she was doing any good as far as Lotor was concerned.

This chapter drove me nuts...I had a strong mental image for this chapter, of Lotor wanting to bury the feelings, the pain and his body into Allura's...but it was so freaking hard to translate into written word. I fear this chapter turned stupid. -_-

To Be Continued...

Michelle

KMS5665. well I haven't written to the point of revealing just who of Lotor's friends and inner circle might have been on other worlds. (I kinda needed a break after I got to chapter 28 or 29...can't remember...I need to sit down and write more for this story...for a lot of stories really...I've been slacking off...) But since I happen to like Cossack, I think it's a very high chance it will turn out he was on a mission to another world when planet Doom got destroyed! You're right, Lotor needs a friend or two or three! And thank you for liking how I write Cossack! I liked him, but the more I wrote Cossack, the more I grew to like the character even more. I'm a big fan of almost all the Doom crew except Yurak for some reason. Although one person, I read their story, and they made me like Yurak in their story!


	22. Chapter 22

Her arms were still around him, still full of Lotor. He had collapsed against her, giving himself over to the hug and the emotions he had fought so hard against. He didn't cry, never that, but he did shake. His whole body shook, as though the trembling was the only outlet he had left to him. Perhaps it was the only way he knew how to grieve, the only way that didn't translate into sex or violence.

Whatever the case, Allura held him, her arms tight around him. Letting him know she was there, and that she wasn't about to let go of him so long as Lotor was in need. Even when his full weight became too much, feeling as though he might crush her with his body, Allura endured. His head ended up buried in the crook of her right shoulder, as though he could no longer bear to look at her. Or maybe Lotor simply couldn't handle seeing his own face reflected in her eyes.

She couldn't fault him if that was the case. The raw emotion in his eyes, the depth of his grief had been painful for her to look at. But she had refused to turn away. He was suffering, and needed her comfort. That much she could give Lotor. And so they stayed like this, for what felt like an eternity. The floor biting uncomfortably into her back though Allura did not complain. She could endure it for as long as Lotor needed, and even when her arms began to tire, she kept right on holding him.

They never spoke. Lotor seemed incapable of speech in the moment. And Allura? She didn't know what to say that wouldn't ruin the moment. To claim it would be all right would be a half truth at best. How could anything be all right again when the Keraclon had destroyed so many worlds in a matter of a week's time? When they still existed, and stalked the galaxy, any world ready to fall victim to the Keraclon next?

They must have stayed on the floor for hours. Even once Lotor stopped trembling, he didn't move to disentangle himself from her. He became so still, Allura thought he might have fallen asleep, and she wondered if her nearness would be enough to keep nightmares from haunting him. Allura knew that the nightmares wouldn't stay away forever, no matter what she tried to do. His pain and his guilt would need an outlet, and when Lotor did sleep, he would be at his most vulnerable. But for tonight she prayed he wouldn't be troubled, that at least in dreams he could find peace.

She was ready to settle down and relax beneath him. It had been an emotionally tiring day. But when her arms started to loosen their hold on him, Lotor spoke. "Don't..." His voice was hoarse, as though it had gotten that way from screaming. But any screams had been held in, Lotor unable to voice his pain. "Don't let go."

She considered his words, how desperate that plea was. He wasn't commanding in the moment, just earnest in his need. Allura tightened her arms once more around him, her voice whisper soft as she set out to reassure him. "I won't."

He didn't relax, holding himself stiff against her. Allura didn't know what comfort he was taking from her, if anything she was doing was actually helping him. But she couldn't view this as a waste of her time. It certainly wasn't a waste of Lotor's, the Drule needing something from her. Would he have accepted this comfort from anyone else? She didn't think so. It wasn't a self conceited thought, Allura was certain Lotor would have refused to appear so vulnerable to anyone else. For all their difficulties, all the problems and animosity of their relationship, Lotor trusted her enough to let down his guard. Anyone else and he really would have exploded, the release of his pent up emotions ending in violence, maybe even a death.

Was one moment, even as extended as it was, enough to keep Lotor from such violence in the coming days? Allura did not know about that. The people onboard this ship would have to tread carefully around him. They would have to be sympathetic to his needs, but not overtly so. Too much of it would seem like pity, and a proud man like Lotor would never accept that.

She began to shift beneath him, never breaking the embrace, but trying to somehow ease into a more comfortable position. Lotor wasn't touching her with his hand, he was content to just lay against her as she did all the holding. He made a protesting sound at her movement, and Allura held in a sigh. "I'm not going anywhere..." She assured him, trying to figure out how to reposition them without releasing her arm's hold. "It's just...here...sit up..."

He made a questioning sound, Lotor slow to respond to her attempts to move them both upright. She wouldn't get very far without his cooperation, Allura shifting about as best she could. "You're heavy..." She finally pointed out. "And you've been on top of me for a long while now..."

"I'm crushing you." He had lifted his head to look at her, understanding dawning in his eyes.

"Maybe just a little..." He instantly went to sit up, a chagrined look on his face. Since Allura's arms were still around him, she was pulled along with Lotor's movements. If the mood hadn't been so serious, his pain so apparent, this might have earned her laughter. Instead Allura set about to getting comfortable, moving so that she ended up straddling Lotor's lap. She never once broke her hug, and Lotor tentatively put his hand on the small of her back to steady her. "Better." Allura announced, and Lotor could only nod in agreement. He still didn't look ready to talk, and Allura didn't press him to. She just lay her head against his chest, the sound of his heart's beating a low thump in her ear.

She wondered what was going through his mind as they sat like this. Was his thoughts fully focused on the tragedy that had befallen Doom and it's people? Was he looking for someone to blame? Was that blame turned in on himself? Or was he more revenge minded than anything, calming himself with thoughts on how he would make the Keraclon pay?

She felt him relax further, Lotor sagging against the wall. When she shifted enough to look up at him, he wasn't staring at her. Instead he stared at the wall opposite them, his eyes showing how distant his thoughts really were. Allura knew there was nothing she could really say in the moment, nothing that wouldn't make the pain worse. There was the sad fact that part of what happened to Doom was Lotor's own fault. And all because he had kept quiet for his own selfish gains. Was marrying her truly worth the loss of his planet? Allura didn't think so. And by the depth of the pain Lotor had shown her, she had a feeling he didn't think his gain worth the loss he had suffered.

She lowered her head back to his chest, and even though her arms were getting tired of maintaining the hug, Allura voiced no protests. They might have stayed for hours like this, but then Lotor broke the silence. "Doom...Doom was wrong."

It was a surprising thing for her to hear him say, and Allura lifted her eyes with a sound. "Eh?"

"About keeping the secret of the vaccine our scientists had developed." He explained. He still didn't look at her though, eyes locked onto a spot on the wall behind her. "If we hadn't been so insistent on keeping the vaccine from falling into the Alliance's hands...maybe..." Allura said nothing, just letting him puzzle out the what ifs for himself. He sighed, the sound deep and exhausted. "The scientists should have forwarded their findings to Doom immediately." He decided. "Damn the risk of the transmissions being intercepted by other worlds...! If the transmission had gone through to Doom, they would have been able to mass produce the vaccine...inject it into our soldiers...Doom would have stood a chance against the Keraclon then..."

"You shouldn't really torment yourself with the what ifs..." Allura advised. His eyes flashed, but she couldn't read the emotion he guarded against. "Lotor, you..."

"Is it a torment when it's the truth I speak of?" Lotor demanded. "We should have sent the details of the vaccine straight to Doom, not bothered with such secrecy! Who cares if the Alliance had learned of the vaccine...Doom would have been safe...the galaxy would have been safe! Now instead, Doom is gone, other worlds are in danger...the only hope for the galaxy lies in my blood and the ability your scientists have to decipher the secrets within it...It would have been better to risk everyone knowing, then to let Doom be destroyed..."

"It's too late for Doom, yes...but...It's not too late for the galaxy. Your blood is the key to the Denubian's salvation. We just have to keep believing-to keep hoping that the vaccine's properties will be discovered before it's too late."

"Hope..." His tone turned bitter then. "What use is hope now...?"

"Sometimes hope is all we have left." Allura pointed out. "And to give up on hope now...is to give up on everything." Lotor's look was bleak. It was as though he had lost all hope when he had seen the destruction of his home world. "Lotor..."

"Is that what keeps you going Allura?" He asked quietly. "Hope...?"

"It usually is." She confirmed. "It's how I survived the loss of my parents, my people's freedom, the war between our planets...I still hope, even after all that has happened, that good will win out at the end of the day." He was quiet, seeming to just take in her words. "It is my hope that has me believe that we will win against the Keraclon. I believe that our scientists will be able to replicate the vaccine."

"That will take time." Pointed out Lotor. "And the Keraclon have proved they will not wait for that. What world will be the next victim of their wrath? Arus..." She shivered at that, her very soul chilled at the thought of her beloved Arus ending up like Doom. "Doom wasn't the only wrong..." His next words appeared to struggle out of him, as though the prince wasn't used to admitting he could be at fault for something. "I was too. I was...selfish and inconsiderate...I shouldn't have forced you to play to my demands. I should have given you the secret I carried...It might not have been enough to save Zegabob, but the other worlds...MY world...maybe..."

He didn't notice at first that she said nothing. But when it became apparent that she would remain silent, no accusations or attempts to soothe him, Lotor frowned. "Nothing to say Allura?" She just shrugged, which actually got him to scowl. "Come now...this doesn't suit you. Surely you agree with what I am saying...I am at fault here...everything that has happened, that will happen...it's all because of me...Because I wanted you that badly..."

"I...I don't think agreeing with you...or claiming what you say as false will help matters." She answered at last. "Neither course is what you need right now..."

For some reason that angered him, his eyes flashing with emotion. "Oh? And what do I need?" He demanded, his lips close to sneering. It almost got Allura to let go of him. She was taken aback by this new emotion, but it wasn't as shocking as it could have been. She expected him to run through a gamut of emotions, to go from feeling one thing to another. Just as she had expected him to lash out when it got to be too much.

When he realized she wasn't going to respond, his eyes narrowed. "I don't want or need your pity Allura." As though to illustrate those words, his hand dropped away from her back.

"It's not pity..." Allura blurted out, her own arms loosening as she felt how stiff with displeasure Lotor had gone. "It's not..." She insisted.

"Then what is it?" Lotor demanded, voice harsh.

"I feel for you Lotor..." Allura began, and ignored the bitter sound he made. "I sympathize with your pain...I want to make you hurt less...that's not the same as pity...it's nowhere in the same league!"

That confused him. Enough so some of his anger dulled. "Why?" He whispered. "Why do you care?"

She wanted to look away from him, from the probing intensity of his gaze. But when she tried to look down, Lotor's hand caught her chin. He forced her to stare into his eyes as she answered him. "I...I've never been one to turn away from those in need. No matter who they are."

"Or even what they have done?" questioned Lotor. Allura nodded, and saw his eyes flash again. "So you're telling me, you'd offer yourself like this to anyone...anyone at all...all out of the goodness of your heart?" His expression had hardened, Lotor didn't like the thought of that. She wondered just what he thought she was offering to be so bothered by it.

"It's not in my nature to ignore someone's suffering." She finally said. "Not even yours Lotor..."

"How kind of you..." He was cold then, shrugging out of her embrace to stand. She would have fallen to the floor if she hadn't scrambled off his lap in time.

"What did you want me to say?" She demanded, kneeling on the floor. "That I feel something for you that I do not?" Allura watched as Lotor ran his good hand through his hair, the action agitated.

"We have a connection Allura..."

"The only connection we have...is one you forced." She reminded him then. "This marriage wasn't one of my choosing..."

"I know that!" he interrupted! "I manipulated things until I got my way. But I thought..."

"Thought what?" He just shrugged in response to her question. Allura sighed. "Don't confuse my empathy for something else...don't think because of what has happened...that I feel something for you that I don't. Nothing has changed Lotor...nothing at all..."

"I've changed." He snapped. She shook her head, and he persisted. "I have!"

"That still remains to be seen." Tiredly, she got off of her knees. "You've received a blow...one that could devastate a weaker man. How you cope with it in the coming days...weeks...that will be the true test. You may emerge from this experience a different man...but you may also just retain your old ways. I can't predict the future, anymore than you can...neither one of us can know if you'll really have learned anything from Doom's tragedy."

"I have. I'll prove it to you...somehow..." But Lotor sounded uncertain then.

"Just concentrate on coping with your loss for now." Allura told him, and turned towards the door. She stopped when he called out her name, but didn't move to look at him. "Yes, Lotor?"

"Is this how you felt when you learned about Zegabob?"

It was a yes and no answer for a complicated question. "I think my upset about Zegabob can't possibly compare to the pain of your loss." She said. "Zegabob wasn't my world, wasn't the land I grew up on. I didn't know even a quarter of the people there...Lotor, everyone's pain is different. Everyone's reaction to tragedy is their own to have. I may not like you most of the time, but I am sorry you're suffering."

With that said, she walked out of the room. Lotor didn't try to stop her this time, letting the door slide shut behind Allura. She nearly leaned back against it when she sighed, knowing the pain she felt wasn't anywhere on par for the suffering Lotor was currently enduring.

This part of the ship was empty, no one around in the corridors. She wondered if the crew even knew she had been to Lotor's room. She thought probably not, else they would have come running at the first sound of trouble. Allura still remembered how he had growled, how violently Lotor had reacted when she tried to make him eat. She knew it could have been worse, and was glad she was able to calm him. If only for a while.

Another sigh, her shoulder sagging, Allura forced herself to walk away from Lotor's room. She could see the lights of hyperspace through the windows that lined one side of the corridor. Somewhere amidst those lights was the other two Arusian battle ships, flying as close as possible to escort their princess home. Allura wondered what would be waiting for them once they emerged from hyperspace. Would Lance have found Keith? She fervently hoped so, wanting black and red lion and their pilots returned home.

As she walked, she noticed her reflection. Face sad, her hair was badly in disarray. Whole segments falling free of her once tidy bun. Lotor hadn't been careful when he had grabbed at her hair, and Allura stopped now to take down the remains of her bun. She had the last of the pins in her hands, when a door opened. She didn't turn in that direction, not until the footsteps approached her.

The man's image reflected in the window's glass. She vaguely recognized him as one of the interns working under one of those scientists. But for the life of her, she couldn't remember his name. He waited until she turned, and then was giving her a deep bow. His bangs fell forward to obscure his eyes, but not before she caught sight of the excitement coloring the green.

"What is it?" She asked, not wanting to feed into the hope that was trying to flare inside her. "What's happened?"

"You must come quickly, your highness!" He said, straightening. "Dr. Aubergine and the other scientists are waiting for you.

"They've found something, haven't they?" Allura asked. But she didn't move, staring at him as though waiting for what little hope she had to be dashed.

"Yes." He confirmed, and the excitement bubbled out of him. "They think they have managed to replicate the vaccine!"

If Allura would have been holding anything, she would have dropped it for sure. Instead she took a step back, staggered by the news. Her back hit the glass of the wall, Allura thought she might faint from relief. The man put out a hand, and then thought better of touching her. Allura straightened once more, then nodded at him to lead the way. For now all thoughts and concerns for Prince Lotor were put aside, Allura anxious and eager to see firsthand the results of the scientists' hard work.

Meh...don't like the ending paragraph...X_X

To be Continued...

Michelle

Amanda, thank you! I was upset cause I thought I couldn't convey his feelings and state of mind well. I really needed a Lotor POV, but I think it would be weird to suddenly stick one in when the whole story has been an Allura POV. I'm determined to keep this story told from her eyes, even if it might sometimes be easier to write it from Lotors. But thank you! I have to get back to work on this story. I'm trying to figure out how to balance Lotor's coping with him starting to want more from his relationship with Allura. I don't want him to just get over what happened to Doom and his people, you know? But I have friends who think he should start pushing for sex again...but it doesn't feel right to have him do that at this point in the story, you know?


	23. Chapter 23

It was difficult for Allura to keep control of her excitement, the princess wanting to run the distance from Lotor's bedroom to the scientists' laboratory. But she was aware of how such an act would look, the reactions she would earn from those she passed by. They would make assumptions about why Allura was in such a hurry, and those assumptions would lead to speculation. Before long full out gossip would break out onboard the ship, people excited and getting their hopes up. It was something Allura could not allow, not until she received confirmation of the findings from the scientists themselves.

So she forced herself to walk at a normal pace. Kaloum the intern whose name she had at long last remembered, walked just a step ahead of her, barely composed. She could not fault him for that, not when Allura wanted to pull him aside and question him intently about everything he could know about the scientists' breakthrough. But she also knew the best source of information would come from the scientists themselves, rather than an assistant.

But still it was difficult to hold back, to not build up her hopes and excitement. She was almost ready to start screaming when they turned the corner that led towards the scientists' labs. The space assigned to the scientists was located near to the center of the ship, which was quite a distance from Lotor's bedroom. It felt even longer, that final corridor that led into the space allocated as a lab. Allura felt her nerves winding tighter together, her anticipation building.

There were two guards in front of the laboratory's doors. She felt her impatience mount, Allura giving a hurried acknowledgment of their actions. Kaloum pulled open the doors, Allura nearly barreling him over in her haste to get inside the laboratory. He did not take offense, his green eyes excited as he made sure to close the doors behind her. Someone had surely instructed the intern well, the man making sure not even the laboratory guards would overhear what was about to be revealed.

The laboratory itself consisted of three cabin sized rooms. Most of the typical furniture had been removed, no beds and what not around to take up needed space. Instead there was tables, and machines, even bookcases whose shelves were full of odds and ends. In the first room alone, Allura could see many beakers and vials of colorful potions, things bubbling in a pot. A minty smell was in the air, it overrode many of the others scents in the room.

An array of large, square like machines took up the right wall. Some were connected, but many weren't. She saw printouts laid out on a table, and charts of both Drule and human anatomy. On one table, stacks of folders lay piled on top of one another. They were thick with paper, and she wondered if that was just some of the findings the scientists had discovered these past few days.

"Right this way." Kaloum drew her attention, Allura following him into the next room. This room was similar to the first, although now she saw row upon row of tubing. Those tubes held the rich red liquid that might just be some of the blood they had drawn from Lotor. Another intern was standing by the tubing, a chart in hand as she monitored something about that blood. She barely looked up as Allura and Kaloum passed her by.

The third room had even more blood on display, so much Allura had a feeling it didn't all belong to Lotor. Gathered here were the eleven scientists that had been brought onboard, many of them holding charts that they kept glancing at. Behind them, on the center wall was a large view screen. Allura could see what had to be the laboratory at the castle of Lions. There was scientists moving about in the background, no one paying much mind to the transmission that was currently running.

Curious, she did a quick look around the room. She saw the exam table where Lotor had surely laid so many times, and various implements laid out beside it. Nothing that could prick skin though, those things had been hidden away for the moment. There was a machine who was printing out some kind of readout, the lines and squiggles indecipherable to Allura.

Kaloum stood with her when Allura stopped just several feet from the door. The scientists seemed to have not noticed their arrival, talking in hushed murmurs amongst themselves. One pair in particular seemed to be arguing over something on a chart, the woman frowning and shaking her head no. The man next to her looked annoyed, pointing insistently at something on the chart.

Allura had a feeling she would have been ignored forever, if not for Kaloum forcing a polite cough. The noise seemed to draw one scientist in particular's attention. It was the woman known as Doctor Aubergine, a serious faced scientist whose jet black hair was pulled back in a severe bun. She didn't waste a smile on Allura, nor did she seem particularly excited. Allura began to doubt the reason she had been called here, stepping forward to shake the offered hand.

"Princess Allura, so good of you to come." Doctor Aubergine's handshake was firm, pumping Allura's hand three times before letting go.

"I understand there's been a development...?" She hadn't been sure how to phrase it. Kaloum had talked as though they thought they might have a way to replicate the vaccine.

The other scientists were starting to look her way, but save for quick glances, most seemed focus on the documents and charts they held. One of the scientists in the background of the view screen seemed to notice who Aubergine was talking to. He quickly ran off screen, and seconds later a different man would walk into view. He seemed much older than Doctor Aubergine, with salt and pepper colored hair, and a neatly trimmed beard.

"Why yes princess, there has been." Aubergine gestured to the screen. "It was actually Doctor Chestarah who first stumbled upon a potential break through..."

The man, Chestarah, bowed slightly to Allura. "Yes...though it really was just chance. I noticed a certain kind of enzyme in the prince's blood...You may or may not be aware, but in a typical human body structure, enzymes are known catalysts to roughly four thousand biochemical reactions. It is a similar number among the Drule, although there is an additional three hundred not existing in a human's body..."

Allura tried not to let her eyes glaze over at this, knowing it would be bad if she couldn't follow this much of the conversation. "And it's this enzyme that made all the difference?"

"It was a start..." allowed Doctor Chestarah. "The enzyme in question is actually what we would call a mutation. Something that would not naturally exist in a Drule's body. Or a human's for that matter. In the midst of several thousand enzymes it was difficult to locate, but once found well...things began to line up as it were."

"We think this mutation is a key component of the vaccine." Doctor Aubergine spoke now. "Normally a mutation of this type might cause some type of genetic disease, but in this case...well...it appears to be part of the trigger that protects one from the Keraclon's fear waves."

"Appears to be?" Allura echoed sharply. "You don't know for sure?"

"We won't know without extensive testing...and unfortunately the only way to know for certain, is to engage a Keraclon while the vaccine is in one's system." Aubergine gestured for Allura to follow her over to a table. "Here..." There was three microscopes laid out, each one holding a different sample. "Take a look at this...this is the prince's blood..."

Dutifully, Allura looked down into the microscope. She couldn't tell what she was supposed to be looking for, and it wasn't until after Doctor Aubergine had her look at samples of human blood that she understood. The first sample of human blood was normal, but the second sample had been injected with what the scientists hoped was a replica of the vaccine. The injected blood seemed to have more activity going on inside it, matching up to what she had first seen in Lotor's blood.

It still left her confused though. She was no expert when it came to medical science. "Does this mean you have managed to make the Drules' vaccine?" Allura wanted to know. The scientists all began talking louder, and Aubergine gave a tightlipped smile.

"There is some...disagreement about that." She sighed at Allura's questioning look. "We have managed to make A vaccine...one that closely mirrors that which has been injected inside Prince Lotor's body. However...there is doubt on whether or not it will work, or if it will be as effective as the vaccine the Drules created."

"If we were to have more time..." added Chestarah. "We would surely be able to replicate the vaccine the prince carries completely..."

"We might not have that time though." Allura pointed out, trying not to let her depression show. "The Keraclon are on the move. It's not just Arus that is in danger..."

"We realize that." Aubergine's tone and manner was stiff. "But we are recommending that the vaccine we currently have created be used only as a last resort. We of course, will continue to work around the clock with our partners on Arus. We won't give up, we shall continue until we are able to make an exact copy."

"Good." Allura nodded. "In the mean time...start mass producing the vaccine you do have."

"Princess?"

"I don't want to use an untested, potentially imperfect vaccine anymore than you do. But..if this is all we got...I want us to be prepared...if the Keraclon were to attack now, the vaccine we do have might be the only thing standing between us and total annihilation." Allura explained. Several of the scientists were nodding in agreement. "Have you sent your findings to the Galaxy Alliance?"

"Not yet. We were waiting to discuss the matter with you." Said Aubergine.

"Considered it discussed." Allura replied, stepping away from the table with the microscopes. "I want no more delays...send the reports to the Alliance headquarters as soon as possible. The more heads we get working on this, perhaps the better our chances will be of replicating a perfect clone of this vaccine."

"Yes, your highness." Aubergine nodded her head, then gestured for Kaloum to approach her. "Prepare the data to be transmitted..."

"Yes, Doctor." He hurried over to a computer in the corner. Allura glanced his way, watching as his fingers blurred with his movements across the keyboard.

"How much time do you estimate needed for your research?" Allura asked Aubergine.

"I can't say for sure. It could be hours, it could be weeks...we've only made this much progress thanks to my colleague Chestarah's findings." She sighed then. "The Keraclon's recent activity doesn't give us much of a time table to work with."

"Unfortunately true." Agreed Allura. "I don't mean to rush you, but if we can prevent another world from falling victim to the Keraclon's attacks..."

"I understand." Aubergine assured her. "I saw what befell Doom. That kind of tragedy must never be repeated." Her whole body seemed to sag with her sigh. "It is a weighty burden, to have an entire galaxy dependent on our actions..." She looked Allura over, and sighed again. "But of course, you already know that burden well, do you not princess...?"

"Yes." Allura nodded. As one of the five pilots of Voltron, the peace of the Denubian Galaxy had often fallen on Allura's shoulders to protect. And not just as a member of the Voltron Force, the princess thinking of her forced marriage to Lotor. It was a union not based on love, but one of necessity. She had been willing to do anything to gain the secret of the Keraclon's defeat, just as Lotor had been willing to do anything to get Allura to be his wife.

Just thinking of Lotor, and the risks he had put them all in with his selfishness made Allura frown. She couldn't be as mad at him as she had been just hours ago, not when she had witnessed his pain. But as much as he hurt over what he had wrought with his own planet, she couldn't completely forgive him for his behavior this past week. Her feelings were somewhere in the middle, confusing and conflicting. The coming days would show whether she would want to hug him in comfort, or wring his neck in exasperation!

"Princess? Is everything all right?" The Doctor wanted to know. Allura couldn't quite smile, though she did manage to do away with her frown.

"I'm fine. I just have a lot to think about." She said.

"As do we all." Aubergine's reply seemed to be the cue Allura needed to excuse herself. The other ten scientists barely seemed to notice, but Doctor Aubergine escorted her to the laboratory's exit.

"Call me if you discover anything new..." Allura insisted, just before the doors opened. "No matter what..."

"Of course." Aubergine nodded, and then the doors were closing. The two guards looked at Allura, their curiosity apparent. They didn't know what had been discovered, but they knew enough to know something significant had to have happened. But Allura didn't offer them any clues, just walking away deep in thought. She wondered if Coran had been alerted to the scientists findings. But it was late on Arus, too late even for the advisor to still be up. She decided she could always call him first thing in the morning, and then fill him in on what progress the scientists had made.

And it was progress, even if it wasn't the exact vaccine. Allura was sure if the scientists were given the chance, somehow, someway they would find the key to making an exact copy. The Drules of Doom and the outpost wouldn't have died in vain, they would have supplied the Denubian Galaxy with the salvation it needed. It was with that uplifting thought that Allura headed to her own private room. She intended to sleep, the princess having been up for more hours than she cared to count.

Of course she didn't get that far. An alarm went off on the ship, the sound of it's blaring making Allura panic. Were they under attack? Her first instinct was to run to the docking bay of the ship, Allura intent on getting to her lion. Other soldiers had the same idea, men and women running, suited up and intent on getting into their fighter jets. No one had a clue as to what was going on, and a part of Allura knew she should go to the command deck and get answers. But the part that was spoiling for some action overrode her more practical side, and Allura soon arrived in the docking bay.

She saw immediately what the problem was. Prince Lotor was on top of blue lion, crouched down and ignoring the soldiers at it's paws. They were shouting at him to come down, agitated and unsure what would happen if they were to attempt shooting him. Former enemy or not, some might even be attempted to use something more lethal than a stun blast on the prince as well.

Lotor seemed to be snarling, his good hand scrabbling at the roof hatch of her lion. She knew no amount of prying by his claws would get it open, but her shouts did not seem to reach him. Allura pushed her way to the front of the lion, several soldiers moving to make space for her.

"Your highness...he just...he just appeared..." One said in a helpless tone.

"He completely ignores us!" added another. "He's determined to get inside blue lion. Though to do what, I don't know..."

Allura wasn't sure either. Did he think to take blue lion and fly off to face the Keraclon? Even with the lion's capabilities, that would be suicide!

"Should we shoot him down?" suggested a woman, and Allura quickly spoke.

"No!" Faces turned her way, and Allura nearly flushed in embarrassment. "Let me talk to him instead..."

"Are you sure that's wise?" A look was aimed towards the angry Lotor who didn't even seem aware Allura had arrived. "He seems unstable..."

"I have to try." Allura answered. "If talking doesn't work, then we'll try a different action..." The crowd of soldiers grumbled. They weren't happy with letting their princess so close to a visibly angry Drule. Even if that Drule was now her husband.

Feeling their eyes on her, Allura began to climb up the side of her lion. The higher she went, the more audible was Lotor's angry growls, and muttered words. She could almost make out what he was saying, and then she was pulling herself up onto the lion's head.

Lotor did not even look her way, not even when Allura called out his name. The alarm continued to blare, and Allura desperately wished someone had thought to shut it off. She certainly didn't want to spend this entire time shouting to be heard!

She inched towards Lotor, wondering if he even knew she was there. He continued to claw at the hatch with his nails, Allura noticing the blood on his fingertips and the roof of her lion. She almost frowned, not understanding what was driving him to hurt himself in this matter.

"It won't work." She said when she was within reach of him. "Even if you do get inside...you won't be able to pilot blue lion without it's key."

"Don't need it's key." Came his muttered out answer. "Just need what's inside..."

"Inside...?" She didn't have to feign confusion. What could be inside that had him so desperate. "Lotor? What's inside...?"

He looked at her then, never missing a beat with his claws. His look was reproachable, as though he couldn't believe she had forgotten. "My sword, Allura."

"Your sword..." She repeated, and managed not to gasp. She had completely forgotten about his sword, left inside her lion for all this time. It had become inconsequential, at least to her.

"I want it back Allura..." Lotor continued, and narrowed his eyes at her head shake. "And I want it now..."

"I don't think that's a good idea..." She wondered if she paled at the thought of a distressed Lotor going around armed. If he had his sword, would he be more apt to kill someone when his pain and self blame got to be too much?

He snorted and turned his back to her. He wasn't acknowledging the bleeding, nor the pain that was surely hurting his fingers. He just kept right on digging at the hatch. Allura winced for him, and kneeled down besides him. "Please...you're hurting yourself..." She said, and reached for his wrist. He lashed out with that arm, and she nearly fell on her back as she attempted to dodge his attack.

"Leave me alone Allura..." Lotor told her. "Or get me my sword...but don't..."

"Don't what?" Allura asked. "Don't interfere?" She guessed, but he didn't respond. "How can I just sit back while you're hurting yourself?"

"You know how to end this." He answered tonelessly. Dig, dig went his claws, and she thought one was splintering apart. Again she winced, knowing how painful what he was doing had to be.

"Giving you your sword won't help matters." Allura finally said. "If anything, it'll only make things worse."

"Worse for who?" He wanted to know. "You...?"

"The pain won't stop, no matter who you lash out at. No matter how many times you kill, it won't lessen."

I don't want to kill anyone." She stared disbelieving at him, and he sighed. "Fine...I want to kill the Keraclon. Every last one of those bastards. Don't worry Allura, your people are safe from me."

"Are they? Are they really?" Again she went for his wrist, and again he lashed out. This time she didn't try to fall back, she stayed kneeling as she caught his arm. She tskd then as she looked down at his bleeding fingertips, her expression sad. "Look at what you've done to yourself..."

"It's nothing." He was dismissive, but he didn't try to jerk his arm free of her hands.

"How can you say that? You ruined your nails...your bleeding for God's sake!" Allura exclaimed.

"This pain...it doesn't compare, it can't compare to what I'm already feeling..."

Her face softened, eyes feeling as though they were growing wet with understanding. "Oh Lotor..."

"Allura please...my sword..." They locked eyes, Lotor not pleading nor commanding. Instead he tried to make her understand. "It's the only thing I have left. The only thing to have survived Doom's destruction..."

She wanted to tell him it was just a thing. Something that wouldn't be able to take away his pain. But he hurried on, words rushing out of him in a breathless tone. "It's all I have left...everything is gone...my family, my friends...my home..."

"It's not all you have left...yes you lost a great many things, but you are not alone!"

"Why? Because I have you?" When she hesitated, he gave her a bitter, angry look. "I don't even have that, do I?"

"Not exactly..." Allura hedge. "Maybe not in the way you want. But I'm here for you anyway." He was pulling his arm away, intent on clawing at the hatch again. "And it's not just me...you have the people of Arus..."

"The people of Arus hate me." Lotor retorted. "I've given them good reason to, over the last two years..."

"Yes...but that can be forgiven...the people on this ship have been kind to you..."

"They pity me Allura. And all because they've seen what happened to my home world. Hell, they don't just feel pity, they're scared shitless that the same thing is going to happen to Arus. They know they need me, need what's in my blood to keep them safe. So they tolerate me." Lotor was snarling as he said that.

She didn't know quite what to say to that. Pity and fear were things her people were most likely feeling. She sighed, and tried again. "You have the remains of the Doom Empire..."

"But for how long?" Lotor wanted to know. "How long before some greedy, grasping nobles steals it out from under me?"

"I won't let that happen!" Allura snapped. "I will help you to hold onto your empire!"

That got him to stop his claws movements. He glanced at her, surprise in his eyes. "You would do that for me?" She nodded. "Why?" When she hesitated, he sighed. "Don't say something like it's because I am your husband."

"But you are my husband..." Allura retorted. "We made vows to one another. Vows I take seriously, even if the way we got married wasn't of my choosing. I will stand by and support you, help you through anything..."

"You just won't love me, will you?" He asked, and now she shrugged.

"I don't know." She touched his shoulder. "The Lotor of a week ago, there was no way I could have loved him. But...the Lotor you might become, the man who is changed by the tragedy of Doom...maybe...maybe he I could love..."

He didn't say anything, turning away from her. She fidgeted in place, wondering if he wanted that, or if he was offended. But she wasn't gonna keep on wondering quietly, Allura speaking her concern out loud. "Maybe you no longer want my love...maybe you hate me..."

"Hate you?" He turned back startled.

"You could just as easily blame me for what's happened to Doom. If I had been quicker to marry you...maybe, just maybe what happened to Doom would have been prevented..." Allura explained.

"I don't blame or hate you for that Allura." Lotor told her. "I put you in an awful position. I realize that. If anyone should be blamed...it's me..." And that realization was killing him inside.

"You can only blame yourself for so long before it gets to be too much." Allura said. "Please try not to let it tear you up inside..."

"I don't know if I can stop it..." Lotor admitted.

"It's only the first day...it will get better as time passes."

"Will it really?" he asked. And she nodded.

"It might never stop hurting completely, but it will lessen." She reached for his hand, and this time he didn't try to stop her. "So please...stop this. I'll give you your sword back, but not until we get back to Arus."

"You don't trust me with it? No...don't bother denying it. I can see the truth of it on your face." He sighed. "Fine...I guess I can wait one more day..."

"Thank you." She was relieved. "Now what say we get off my lion? I'd really like to get your fingers treated..."

He grimaced as he looked at his hand. "I really made a mess of things." His words could apply to so many things, and Allura wisely kept quiet. Lotor didn't need her agreeing with him about that. Though she felt hope that he could recognize the problems he had caused. Hope that he would be able to rectify some of them. She even felt better to know he wasn't blaming what happened to Doom on her. She realized with a start, it was starting to matter what Lotor thought of her, what he felt for her. A tension that had been with her all day and night had left her with the confirmation that he didn't hate her. For the first time since marrying Lotor, she felt a little hope for their future.

Okay...first I didn't expect this to be a long chapter. I thought it would be a short thing with the scientists but realized it would work out if I stuck the blue lion has Lotor's sword bit in too. I hope it makes up for the suckage of the first part. I'm no scientist or doctor, and I feel like I could not write that scene to save my life. It was very discouraging, and I was googling pages trying to figure out how vaccines and enzymes worked. I have no idea if I came up with anything real...And it shows! T_T So I am trying to gloss over the actual scientific/doctor bits as much as I can...it almost made me want to abandon the fic because I really have no freaking idea what I am writing in terms of in depth or even brief explanations about this! After googling, I'm not even sure if vaccine is the word I should have been using! Geeze! X_X

To Be Continued...

Michelle


	24. Chapter 24

As both princess of planet Arus, and one of the five pilots of the Voltron Lions, Allura had often spent nights away from her castle. She had slept in all manners of places, from the most luxurious of bedrooms to the hard floor of caves. Even on occasion, she had spent an uncomfortable night sleeping inside her own lion. It meant she was used to waking up in different places. And thus she had none of that disorientation upon discovery that she was not in her familiar bedroom. What did however, cause her some concern was the fact that she wasn't in the bed that sat situated across from her.

Instead she found herself huddled uncomfortably on one of the room's two overstuffed arm chairs. Her knees were bent, legs drawn up beneath her. Her head had been resting at a crooked angle, and she clutched a thin blanket over her. She felt aches and pains from staying in such a position for so long, hearing things softly pop as she tried to unstretch.

As she moved, the night events began to trickle back into mind. The memories were aided by the sight of a sleeping Prince Lotor, the Drule looking equally uncomfortable in his chair. They had both retired to their separate cabins after a quick trip to the ship's infirmary. The onboard doctor had tsked at the sight of Lotor's fingers, and might have even taken a perverse pleasure in pouring the cleansing alcohol over the cuts. Lotor had managed to control himself, save for a hiss of pain and seemed to tolerate the doctor's lecture.

The prince had indeed broken off several claws, and the remaining two were so splintered the doctor had insisted on trimming them down. The skin around his nails had been rubbed raw, fragile enough to tear open from Lotor's repeated movements. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as the injury of a broken bone although, Lotor's fingers were now covered in bandages. They would have to be cleansed and slathered with ointment several times a day to prevent infection from taking root.

After forcing a promise from Lotor that he would behave for the remainder of the night, Allura had parted ways. She had been intent on getting some much needed sleep, but once in bed found she could not settle down. There was simply too much on her mind, between her husband's antics, the Keraclon, and the discoveries the scientists had shared with her.

It also became apparent Lotor could not sleep either. She could hear him moving about the cabin, the thumps at first soft, barely audible. They began to get louder, and louder and then spilled out into the hallway. By the time she got out of bed, and pulled on a robe, the sound had abruptly stopped. That had worried Allura more than anything, and she hurried out into the hall.

It would be empty. And so would Lotor's room. Empty and disheveled, furniture knocked over, bedding torn apart. It seemed Lotor had done more than just pacing, the prince turning destructive when he could not sleep. Worried, Allura had begun walking the corridors of the ship, searching the halls for any sign of Lotor. She'd eventually find him several corridors over, the prince panting and standing in front of one of the walls that doubled as a window.

He had been shirtless, only a thin pair of cotton pants clinging to him tightly. They were ill fitting like all of his borrowed clothes, and Allura realized they would have to put in an order from one of the Empire's holdings in order to get clothing that would fit a Drule.

She tried not to stare at his body, but couldn't help but notice he was wet. But it was not sweat, but the flood of a shower that had dampened him so. The ship might

have been warm, but going around soaked from an icy shower was not the best course of action. "You'll catch a cold that way." She had said, but her voice did not startle him. Lotor had continued to stand staring out the window, letting the lights of hyperspace wash over his front. "Lotor..." Allura had been unsure of what to say, drawing up besides him. That close she could see the way his flesh rippled with goose bumps, a proof of his chill.

"Go back to bed Allura." Lotor had ordered softly.

"I could say the same to you." Allura had retorted. "It's late. You need some sleep. We both do."

"Can't sleep." He had answered, with a stubborn lift of his chin. "Won't..."

"Why?" But she had had a good idea of why, Allura figuring he was as tormented asleep as he was awake.

"The...the nightmares come then." She had thought he wasn't going to answer, but after several minutes he had. If he had noticed she wasn't surprised, he hadn't chosen to comment on that. He'd follow up that revelation with a hoarse bitter laugh. "The nightmares come even when I'm awake. But at least then I can divert them."

"Is that why you trashed your room?" She had asked. "To distract yourself from the nightmares..." He had allowed himself a small nod, Allura sighing softly in response. "Oh Lotor..."

"I don't want to think...don't want to remember or feel..." Lotor had admitted. "Not about that..."

"You'll have to sooner or later." She had pointed out. "Eventually you'll need to work through what has happened...to come to grips with it. Only then will you be able to move on..."

"Why can't I move on already?" He had asked.

"You know why you can't." Allura had said. "It doesn't work that way...and you need time to grieve...You lost a lot...friends, family, a whole planet of people. You survived a tragedy...by a cruel twist of fate, you could have been wiped out with the rest of Doom..."

Thankfully he hadn't been so far gone as to wish he had died with the rest of the Drules. Instead his lips had merely flattened into a thin line, Lotor turning stone faced with his anger. "I think about it you know..." He had finally said. "About the what ifs..."

"Lotor...don't..."

"Let me finish." He had snapped. "It could have been us that died...if we had arrived on Doom just a day earlier...without the vaccine...we all would have died too..."

"But we didn't." She had pointed out. "And that's what we should focus on..." He had gone quiet at that, returning his attention to the window. It wasn't much of a view, the speed they were traveling at made everything blur around them. She had begun to tell him about the scientists' discovery, about the vaccine that was similar and yet so different from the one running through Lotor's veins. He had frowned at that.

"I suppose this means they will want to draw more blood from me, come tomorrow."

"Probably." She had nodded.

"It's strange...I've been the scourge of the galaxy for so long...It's hard to believe that now I am it's hope..."

"You're more than just it's hope. You hold the potential to be it's salvation." Allura had reminded him.

Lotor had surprised her when he didn't try to play up that aspect of his role more. "No...it will be the Drule scientists that made the discovery...and the soldiers who actually fight against the Keraclon who are the real saviors. I'm just a vessel...one that can't even fight in my current condition."

"You still have your part to play. It's no little thing you've done..."

"What have I done?" Lotor had demanded harshly. "All I had to do was be injected with the vaccine. All I've done is stay alive since..." She had tried to say something then, but he had talked over her. "I'm no hero..."

She hadn't known what to say to that. "Go to bed Lotor." Was what she had settled on. He had stubbornly shook his head no, stiffening when she touched his arm. She knew Drules could last longer without sleep than a human, but eventually even they would collapse.

"You once asked me what I could have possibly seen if under the effects of the Keraclon's fear waves." It had been a sudden thing to say, Allura's eyes going wide. "And truthfully I wouldn't have been able to answer. And not just because I had never experienced the fear that they cause in others. I just couldn't imagine anything that bad, that frightening..."

"And now?"

"Now I know what true horror is." His voice had been hoarse, his eyes bleak. "I'm living a far worse nightmare than anything the Keraclon could have showed me." He had suddenly snorted, but it was without humor to it. "It's a nightmare I won't escape, even if we kill off every last one of those alien bastards!"

"It may seem that way now..." Allura had allowed. "But I promise you Lotor...it will get better..."

"How?" He had demanded harshly. "How can you make such a promise. How can you know that?"

"Because you're still alive." She had said simply. "And you have things to live for...people depending on you...we will rid the galaxy of the Keraclon's threat. Revenge is not a thing to live for, but what happens after the galaxy is no longer in danger is. So...think on that when the nightmares gets to be too much for you...think on what you still have, what you have to do and who you still live for..."

He had turned to her then, expression serious as he looked at her. "Can I live for you then?"

The question had made her uncomfortable, Allura shifting from foot to foot. "Would it help?" He had nodded, so earnest in the moment. It had made her agree, though it was against her better judgment. "All right then. But no more of this foolishness." She had taken hold of his bandaged hand, touching gently his fingers. "No more hurting yourself...or others. If you want to be part of my life, you have to know I won't tolerate such violence..."

He was nodding, willing to agree to anything just then. "Now...I think it's time we go back to bed. And you need to dry off." He followed all too willing as she led him back to their cabins. But when she tried to leave him at his room's door, he had stopped her, a near forlorn expression on his face.

"WIll...will you stay with me?" Lotor had asked. She had hesitated, which had made him speak quickly. "Just until I fall asleep...?" He had looked so desperate then, she had found herself agreeing. But it wasn't that simple, it never was with Lotor. He had still been so agitated, unable to sleep. He had kept pacing about the room, and even at one point tried to fix the mess that was the bed. But mostly he had talked to her, telling her memories of Doom and of friends he had lost.

Before Allura had known what was happening, she had relaxed into a state of sleep. Lotor had still been up, walking circles about the room. He had had an agitated energy about him, one that wouldn't let him settle down. But eventually he must have, for she found him now, asleep and snoring lightly in the chair next to hers. His crutch had fallen to the floor, and she reached for it now. It had flecks of dried blood on it from when Lotor had injured his nails and fingertips. She touched those spots now, reflecting on the memories he had shared of Doom. He had had some good times, though she knew he had chosen to tell her things she would not be able to object to. She had also noticed he hadn't spoken much about his father, but that hadn't surprised her. Allura didn't think a man like King Zarkon would have inspired many good memories for anyone, and that included his son.

Leaving the crutch in reach of Lotor, she got up. The room was still in shambles, and for all the attempts Lotor had made to fix the bed, his actions had been limited due to his use of only one hand. Allura began to move about the room, quiet as a mouse. She didn't want to wake Lotor, knowing he had finally gotten his hard earned sleep. She'd let him stay that way for as long as he needed, Allura glad to see he didn't appear to be suffering any dreams at the moment.

She began to try to fix what she could of the room. Cushions were picked up off the floor, a table righted. She noticed he had even gone so far as to smash the drinks laid out on the bar shelf. The carpet was soaked with the spilt remains, the different liquors making a strong, pungent smell. Her nose wrinkled in protest, Allura wondering if the carpet would have to be replaced.

A knock sounded on the door, and she quickly lunged towards it. A glance was cast Lotor's way, but he didn't seem to have stirred. She was relieved, opening the door. One of the ship's servants was on the other side, peering curiously past her into the room. He then looked over Allura in her flimsy robe, making her blush as she realized what it looked like. With the bed so in disarray, and Allura and Lotor barely dressed, the man surely thought they had had one wild night of sex.

Fighting embarrassment, she stepped out into the hall. The cabin's door closed behind her. She looked expectantly at the servant. "You weren't in your room..." He began, and she impatiently waved him off.

"What is it? What's happening?" Allura demanded.

"There's an urgent message from planet Arus." He told her. "Coran needs to speak to you at once."

"Tell him I will be there as soon as possible." Allura told him, and got an agreeing nod. She headed towards her own cabin, intent on getting dressed before meeting with her advisor. The servant ran off, but not before casting another look at Lotor's room. Allura stifled a groan, sure that soon enough it would be all that everyone onboard the ship could talk about. Her supposed wild night with Prince Lotor.

But she'd worry about that later, hurriedly getting dressed. It was one of her simpler outfits, Allura wanting to waste no time with tracking down a maid to assist in her dressing. Once dressed, she found the remote to her room's private view screen. A few buttons pressed, and a short talk with a communication room's crew member, and soon Coran was on the screen before her.

"Coran..." Allura thought she knew why he was calling her. "I take it Doctor Chestarah has told you about the scientists' discovery?"

Coran did a slow blinking of his eyes, It appeared he hadn't heard, and that concerned Allura. "I've not had a chance to meet with Chestarah and his colleagues yet. We've had more pressing concerns to deal with."

"More pressing?" She echoed, and frowned. "Coran, what is it? What's going on?" Her fingers tightened on the remote, a betrayal of her new worries. "Is it Keith? Lance has found Keith, hasn't he?"

"I wish that were the case...but no. I'm afraid it's far worse than that."

"Oh God..." Allura gasped, sure she was going pale with fright. "It's the Keraclon then, isn't it? They've attacked another world?"

"Not that we know of. However..." Coran's own face was pale, his eyes fearful. "The sensors the Alliance has in place at key points throughout the galaxy have picked up a large armada of ships...They appear to be heading towards Arus at a rapid pace..."

"Towards Arus..." Allura repeated, dull with worry.

"They have not answered any hailings. And the ships the Alliance sent to investigate the armada have not returned. Nor do they answer any attempts at communication. We fear the worse..." She was nodding her head in agreement, sick to her stomach with fear. "If it's the Keraclon, we've run out of time your highness..."

"How did they figure out Lotor was on Arus after all this time..." She whispered.

"I cannot say for sure, though we do have a theory." Coran answered. "During the destruction of Zegabob, they went through the hospital's records before decimating the planet. We think they might have done the same at the castle on planet Doom. If so, they would have seen in the records the transmission Lotor made to his father to announce the engagement...It wouldn't have taken much sleuthing for them to deduct the prince was on Arus..."

She processed this, but was too horrified at the thought of the Keraclon coming to Arus to properly respond. Coran sighed, and continued to speak. "I am advising that you do not return to Arus..." That got Allura to snap out of some of her shock and horror.

"WHAT!"

"It's too late for us...but may not be for you. Allura, you must save yourself..." She was shaking her head no, protesting softly how she couldn't. "I don't just ask out of the selfish reason to see you live. Prince Lotor carries the vaccine inside him...He has to live...live long enough for the Alliance to replicate the Drules' vaccine. His blood is the only hope of the galaxy...the only chance we have to fight the Keraclon on even grounds..."

"We have a vaccine." Allura whispered, than laughed. "We have a vaccine!" She repeated louder, wondering if she was growing hysterical. "It's not a perfect copy, and it's untested. We don't even know if it will work against the Keraclon, or what effects it will have on humans but..."

"Princess Allura?"

"Doctor Chestarah can give you the details...or one of his assistants can." Continued Allura. "Try not to bother them too much with questions...not at this time..." She had to pause to let out a shuddery breath. "I want you to explain the risks involved with this untried vaccine to our soldiers. Let them all know the potential dangers. It has to be their decision..."

"Decison to do what!" But Coran looked like he already knew.

"I'm going to use the vaccine we do have." Allura told him. He began to make protesting noises. "Coran, it's the only thing we have left! I will not abandon you and my people to the Keraclon's genocide."

"Your highness...that is an admirable decision, but..."

"But nothing!" Allura snapped. "Evacuate as many civilians as you can. Just on the off chance we cannot fight off the Keraclon. And have the scientists and soldiers prepared for the vaccine's use...I will have the same done here. We will come to lend our aid to you...regardless of the uncertain outcome..."

He was frowning. "I'm not sure this is something your father would have approved of..."

"I'm not the same ruler that my father was." She told him. "I have to do things my way...and letting Arus be destroyed is something I can't abide by. I've seen with

my own eyes what the Keraclon do to other worlds... if there's any chance to prevent that from happening to Arus, I will use any means available to me. You don't have to like it, but you do have to abide by it."

"Yes, your highness." Coran was stiff with displeasure. He thought she was making the wrong decision, and a part of Allura worried he was right. But as frightening as the Keraclon were, Allura could not run from them. Not when it came to protecting the world and the people she loved with all her heart. She ended the transmission, but immediately had a call transferred to the scientists' laboratory. There was no time to stop and process her feelings, not right now. She could break down later, if they all survived this, but for now she had to get ready for her crew to receive the vaccine.

To Be Continued...

Michelle

KMS5665, well he won't always be so um...weakened. He's gone through a lot though. But he won't be so smarmy, so egotistical when he gets back to being normal. At least I hope he won't! XD If he doesn't change just a little, he won't win Allura's love. Not with how he acted the first half of the fic. As fun as he was to write, even I could see he was being quite the ass! Now I struggle with the balance...I have a scene in a future chapter...where some people thought maybe he should have pushed for more...I'll spoil...Allura wakes up in bed, and finds Lotor spent the night there sleeping. I truly struggled cause I didn't want it to look like he just got over what the Keraclon did to his world and people overnight. So he wasn't anywhere as flirty and pushy as he would have been normally.

I recently got the Voltron DVDS too! Just the lion force ones though. XD My VCR broke, and so I NEEDED the DVDS. XD I need to watch them for research purposes for Songbird's Lament, otherwise I tend to just watch the ones where Lotor got to interact with Allura. And yeah, that IS frustating when he leaves Allura behind after rescuing her. Hello! The woman pretty much tried to kill her, was dead set on tortuing her. But I know they did that so Allura could escape...and the good guys would win the day. In a real situation, I don't believe for a second Lotor would have left her with Merla. =/ I actually when I first returned to writing Voltron stories, started a story based on Lotor not leaving Allura with Merla. But it's only got the one chapter so far...I got distracted with Harem Slave and other stories. But someday would like to revisit it. Anyway thanks for continuing to read and review! It's very much appreciated!


	25. Chapter 25

The docking bay of the ship was alive with sound, people talking and in some cases shouting to each other. They tried to keep up a friendly banter, but there was a tension coloring their every word, every move. It followed them as they worked on their ships, checking computer functions, and making sure no repairs were needed. Last minute adjustments were being made to weapon capabilities, ships being fueled in preparation for their arrival in Arus' air space.

Every one around her was already suited up, ready to board the smaller ships at a moment's notice. Allura felt a mix of feelings to see them, knowing that they could all be preparing to fly out to their deaths. And yet none of the three hundred soldiers aboard this ship had refused the vaccine. It had been the same with the two hundred that remained behind on the ships escorting Allura's. Her people were willing to die to protect their home world from the Keraclon. They hadn't hesitated when she explained the vaccine was untested, leaving them clueless on what if any side effects there would be. Or the fact that the scientists couldn't even assure them that the vaccine would work to block out the Keraclon's fear waves.

Never had Allura been more proud to be an Arusian than this day, her feelings bolstered by the bravery and determination of her people. It wasn't just the soldiers who were taking the vaccine, the crew members had also insisted. Everyone from the crew of the communications room, to the command deck, and even the kitchen chef had wanted to be inoculated against the Keraclon's mental attacks.

They had had to move swiftly to get everyone injected with this vaccine. They had had less than a day to get all preparations complete, and Allura could only be thankful that the soldiers kept their ships in working readiness at all times. Even so, they were pushing it when it came to time, and as of this moment they had less than twenty minutes before they would emerge from hyperspace. To what they did not know, but they were prepared for the worse.

Allura had been sure to keep in steady contact with Coran all through out the day. She received progress report after progress report, learning that a good number of people were willingly going along with the evacuation process. But there was a small number of people who insisted on staying on Arus, insisting they had no where to go, or not wanting to leave behind all their worldly belongings. They insisted without those items, they had nothing, would have nothing to build a new life for them should the unthinkable happen to Arus.

It left Allura frustrated. What good was money and possessions if you were dead? But no amount of persuading could change their minds. And right now, they didn't have time to deal with forcibly removing those people from their homes.

Coran had explained to the soldiers of Arus about the vaccine. Nearly all had volunteered to be injected. Those that had refused were sent to deal with the evacuation process, there to keep peace among the panicking citizens and to escort them safely off planet. Hunk and Pidge, pilots of yellow and green lion, had been the first to volunteer to be injected with the vaccine. Allura hadn't been surprised to hear that. Those two were as loyal to Arus as though they had lived on it's lands all their lives. They would gladly die to protect her world, though Allura fervently hoped it wouldn't come to that.

About an hour ago, the last transmission had come from Arus. Since then they hadn't been able to receive or send out calls, some kind of interference blocking communication. It worried Allura, for it echoed what had happened to Doom. She hoped it was just the Keraclon's ships blocking the air waves, Allura refusing to think tragedy had befallen her beloved planet.

She busied herself with checking over her lion though she knew it hadn't suffered any permanent damage from her earlier run in with the Keraclon. At best it had scratch marks on the metal, and those could be smoothed out given time. Mainly she was running a system's check, making sure everything was online, weapons ready to be used at a moment's notice.

Or she was trying to. It was difficult to concentrate on what she was doing, when Lotor was standing by the front paws of her lion. He was glaring and agitated, immensely displeased with what he had discovered upon his awakening. He hadn't taken the news of the Keraclon traveling to Arus well, but even worse had been his reaction to Allura being injected with an untested vaccine.

To say Lotor had hit the roof wasn't an exaggeration of his anger. But he had been too late to stop her, Allura already injected and rubbing the sore spot where the bandage covered the needle's prick. He feared for her, for her safety, and for what the vaccine would do to her. Lotor thought it too great a risk for Allura to take, though he was willing to let the Arusian soldiers inject themselves as many times as needed. She realized his concern was born out of love for her, that love making him fear losing her.

It was that same love and fear that had him speak harshly to her now, Lotor glaring as Allura hurried down the side of blue lion. "You can't do it Allura. I won't let you put yourself in danger like this..."

She tried not to glare back at him, though it took some effort. She had to remind herself he was scared for her and that was what made him speak like this. "You can't do anything to stop me."

His glare deepened, Lotor hobbling towards her on his crutch. She knew he meant to be intimidating, but it was anything but. It only served to remind her of how limited he was in his ability to do anything at this moment.

"Lotor..." She tried to point out the obvious. "You are on crutches, your one arm is in a sling...even if you were in any condition to fight, don't you think my people would stop whatever you tried to do to me?"

"If they care at all about their princess, they would side with me!" Lotor retorted. "Allura...it's too dangerous for you to go out there...this won't be like back on the planet...it won't just be a handful of Keraclon on foot...It will be a whole armada, hundreds of thousands of them, sending out fear."

"The vaccine will take care of the fear."

"You don't know that for certain!" Lotor snapped.

"No, I don't." She agreed. "But I have to keep positive, to keep on hoping for the best...it's go mad otherwise."

"I think you've already gone mad!" He growled through gritted teeth.

"Why? Because I won't sit back and let the others do the fighting for me?" Allura demanded. She had hit on the truth, Lotor did not want her to go out and fight when there were other capable soldiers readily available. "It's not my way...and it's not yours either."

"It won't be like with Doom." He said instead. "The Keraclon won't pull any punches. You won't have anyone telling them to back off of you. And trust me when I say you will be a target. Everyone knows who pilots blue lion...they'll want to take you down, knowing that to kill you, kills off the people's sprit."

"I realize that. But I've been training for months now. I can do this..." Allura insisted. Lotor shook his head no, earning a frown from the princess. "Would you have me run away? Have all of us run? Leave Arus to it's fate...?"

"No!" His protest was immediate, a shudder going through Lotor. "I never want what happened to Doom to happen to Arus...to happen to any planet, ever again. I agree that running is not the right course of action. The Keraclon must be faced, must be stopped if at all possible..."

"But?" asked Allura, and Lotor's face took on a helpless expression.

"But I don't want to lose you."

"Oh Lotor..." Her voice had gone as soft as his had, and Allura stepped towards him. He didn't try to avoid her touch, Allura placing a hand on his cheek. She found herself caressing her fingers over his skin, staring into his eyes.

"Allura, please...don't do this. Let anyone else fight this battle...but you...you must stay here. With me."

She almost wished she could give in to his pleas, but she had a higher calling. One that prevented her from standing on the sidelines while other people fought for her. "I am a princess..." Allura began, still stroking his cheek. "But I'm also a pilot. And not just any pilot, but one of the five that is a part of Voltron. You knew that before you married me..."

"Allura.." It was a broken moan of her name. She knew by how he said it, that Lotor knew he had been defeated.

"I have to do this." She continued. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't." Thankfully he did not point out that she might not live at all, if the Keraclon had their way, if the vaccine did not work the way it was supposed to.

He was silent for a moment, and then his expression turned determined. "Then take me with you."

"Lotor!" She wasn't as shocked as she sounded, Allura knowing that Lotor wasn't the type to run or hide from a fight either. "You can't...your injuries..."

"To hell with my injuries!" Lotor snarled, but she was shaking her head no.

"In your condition, you'd only be a hindrance..." It was the wrong thing to say, Lotor's anger flaring. "I mean...we need you to remain here. If something goes wrong with the battle, you..."

"I won't leave without you." He interrupted.

"You can't remain here...you know that. The vaccine..."

"The Alliance can make do with the research your scientists sent them!" Lotor snapped. "For better or worse, I will remain here. If I cannot be with you in your lion, I can at least monitor the fighting from the command deck." He tried to smile, but he was too angry for that kind of expression. "I'm not just some overbearing brute, I am also a strategist. If your people are willing to follow the advice of a Drule, then I will lend my aid that way."

"Oh they will be willing." Allura promised him. "They'd be a fool to turn down the help of a brilliant strategist."

"I'd still rather be with you in your lion." Lotor muttered.

"I know...But we have to make do with what we can do..." She kept quiet that she had planned a betrayal. She already had the commander of this ship ordered to make the jump to hyperspace should the fight go badly for the Arusians. Despite what Lotor said, she would not risk his life. Not when so much rode on his blood. The crew that remained behind on this ship, would fly to earth, to the Galaxy Alliance's headquarters. There Lotor would submit to examination, and Allura could only hope that they would find the right vaccine this time around.

But she didn't want to think of negative what ifs. Allura had to keep believing the vaccine she had injected herself with would prove just as good, if not better than the one inside Lotor.

"Allura...?" He had noticed the wavering of her voice when she had spoken. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." She lied. "It's just nerves..." She forced a smile. "I always get jittery just before a battle. Look, can you feel it? I'm shaking?" An alarm went off, a woman's voice shouting over the speakers.

"We will be coming out of hyperspace in the next five minutes. I repeat, we will be coming out of hyperspace in the next five minutes. All essential personnel to your designated stations..."

"That's our cue..." Allura whispered when the voice had finished it's message.

"Take care of yourself Allura." Lotor said gravely.

"I will." Allura promised, and lowered her hand. Lotor began to turn away from her, and suddenly she was overcome with emotions. She stepped after him, and grabbed his good arm. With a forceful spin, he turned towards her, a question on his lips. She was already rising on tip toe, plastering herself against him as she stole a kiss. She heard the clatter of his crutch hit the floor, Lotor using his good arm to clutch at her body.

Allura noticed it had gotten quiet in the docking bay. She'd feel embarrassment later when she'd realize that nearly everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare at Lotor and her. But for now she just enjoyed the kiss. When she finally broke away from Lotor, her cheeks flushed from her emotions, he looked confused. His hand raised to his lips, fingering where her mouth had been.

"Allura...what was that..."

"For luck." She finally said, feeling as though she might tear up. It was a daunting thing to think she might be going out to her death. And Lotor was the closest thing she had to experiencing love, even if it was all one sided on his part. But she had wanted to put aside the anger for once, and experience affection that wasn't poisoned with her exasperation and upset.

"Luck..." repeated Lotor, bemused. "Allura...it...it wasn't all bad between us...was it?" He stared searchingly into her eyes.

She thought about the last two years, but she also thought about the past week. He had made her upset countless times, and she had never been as angry with a person as she had been with Lotor. But she also realized this past day, he had become if not likable, than tolerable. It had been no hardship to stay with him when he was coping with his pain and anger. Allura thought that if he really did change as a result of what had happened to Doom, she might be able to like Lotor.

"No, Lotor...it wasn't always." With that answer, she began climbing up her lion. She didn't turn to watch Lotor pick up his crutch, or begin the walk out of the docking bay. She might never let him leave if she had.

Instead she went inside her lion, strapping herself into the cockpit's seat. The computer had run it's checks, and everything had passed inspection. She pulled on her helmet, and let out deep breaths, trying to find her calming center. Within minutes, the alarms would start ringing, alerting everyone onboard the ships that they were emerging from hyperspace into a battle zone.

Allura recognized the insignias on the enemy ships, the armada indeed being that of the Keraclon. There were Arusian battle ships also flying about, and smaller fighter craft erratically speeding about. The one man and two men fighter ships made up both sides, and laser fire was heavy between them. The darkness of space was lit up with green and red lasers, photon beams blasting from the larger ships, and even a few bombs bursting apart as they hit metal.

The docking bay doors opened. Allura in her lion would be the first to emerge, with half a dozen ships flying in close behind as an escort. She tensed, her fingers on the console of the control panel. She continued to take deep, calming breaths, waiting to see if the fear would overtake her. The airwaves were silent, the jamming signal of the Keraclon preventing her from hearing what was going on. But she didn't feel as frightened as she expected to, and no visions of Zarkon or some other demons appeared before her.

Shaking with nerves, she began to launch her lion out the docking bay doors. Was the vaccine actually working? Would they be able to do this? Elation filled her, and she let out a nervous laugh. The answer seemed to be yes, Allura letting out an excited whoop. Blue lion and it's escort flew out, followed by wave after wave of fighter jets. They sped forward to engage the enemy, lending back up to the Arusians that were already fighting.

She looked around for the lions, but only saw green lion. Yellow lion was lost to her, apparently deep in the heart of the Keraclon armada. Allura knew Hunk could handle himself, and she set about to attacking any nearby Keraclon targets. The Keraclon ships took notice of blue lion's arrival, over a hundred flying towards Allura and her escort.

She did not panic, instead allowing her fingers to speed over the control panel. She barely had time to think of what she was doing, reacting more on instinct than anything else. That instinct allowed her to quickly input her commands, blue lion shooting water beams and steel tipped claw missiles. She zigged and she zagged, avoiding ships. She also got separated from her escort in the process, seeing out the corner of her eye that some exploded apart from the Keraclon's attack.

She felt the loss strongly, but she did not fear. Allura nearly smiled, repeating to herself that she did not fear. She couldn't know the Keraclon were scrambling onboard their larger vessels. Whole groups of them gathering in their special chambers, working to amplify their powers. They would send out fear wave after fear wave, and though they weren't completely successful, some of the fear got through. It showed in the ships that suddenly began veering off, Arusian pilots panicking at the last second.

Allura began to feel that panic too, but for the amount of Keraclon that was sending out fear waves, she wasn't anymore scared than she had been on the planet when there had been just a handful of them. Allura knew then she could survive this fear, and if she fought well, and had the luck of the Gods on her side, she would survive this battle as well.

If possible, the fighting grew uglier yet. The Keraclon were enraged, angry that their usual tactics weren't working on the Arusians. They began to use weapons that were normally reserved for decimating a planet, and one of the ships that had traveled with Allura to Doom was blown away in an instant. She screamed, fearing it had been the ship that Lotor was on. Allura didn't have time to analyze the fear, or the relief she felt when she realized Lotor's ship was still intact. She kept right on fighting, blue lion attacking one of the largest of the Keraclon ships.

She had blue lion sink it's claws into the metal, tearing it apart like it was paper. Wires were revealed, Allura using her shoulder missiles to shoot directly into them. And then she was slicing open another part of the ship, the hull breaking apart to expose the aliens inside. The Keraclon had no way to breathe in space once their ship was torn apart. They died instantly, their bodies left to float in the middle of the ensuing carnage.

Smaller Keraclon ships pursued her, heavy fire on her rear. She evaded it as best she could. Her rear facing lasers fired back on the pursuing ships, Allura firing on the next of the largest ships. At one point she saw yellow lion, Hunk tearing apart ships with his claws. Both sides were doing damage to each other, but it was becoming apparent that the Arusian side was still losing. Too many of their ships had been destroyed, and they had already been outnumbered before the fight had begun. Allura fought not to despair, and give in to the fear the Keraclons were trying to force down all their throats.

Another hour of fighting, more Arusian ships than Keraclon exploding. Allura was so deep into the heart of the Keraclon's armada, she could no longer see Lotor's ship. It had remained on the outskirts of the battle, where it would be easy to escape. Had it done so, or was the commander waiting for a miracle? Allura didn't think one was coming, but she never stopped fighting. She'd go to her death with honor, and take out as many of those alien bastards as she could.

It was on the third hour of fighting, when things looked their most bleak that help arrived. Galaxy Alliance ships, the men and women all trained by Garrison. They had used the research the Arusian scientists had forwarded to headquarters, making more of the vaccine. And injected it into as many willing and able bodied soldiers as they could find.

The amount of ships that came from the Alliance balanced out the two sides. With the Alliance lending back up, they might even outnumber the remaining number of Keraclon ships. Allura felt her hope restored, the fear being beaten back. Arus would be saved, the Keraclon would leave here defeated.

To Be Continued!

Michelle

KMS5665, not quite! It was the Keraclon afterall...I always worry about making things too easy, too convienant for the characters. Like it they're running around, trying to escape, I don't want it to just magically have the door that leads them out of wherever..don't know if I'm explaining it right though...and thanks! Glad you understand too, about Lotor needing to recover, and how it couldn't be instant recovery. That's one thing I am struggling with with this fic. I need Lotor to get better, but I don't want it to seem rushed, or like a miraculous recovery. X_X


	26. Chapter 26

The battle extended well into the night. Both sides suffered extensive losses, and at times it appeared the fighting would never end. Allura began to think the Keraclon would continue to fight until everyone was dead on both sides. Even with the ships from the Alliance lending their aid, the battle proved difficult on the Arusians. But, and Allura was heartened to note the Keraclon never came close to landing on Arus' surface. Nor could they get near enough to effectively used the weapons that were capable of leveling whole cities in an instant.

Of course that meant the Keraclon in a move of utter desperation, used those devastating weapons on ships instead. At one point a beam had taken in both Alliance and Keraclon ships, the aliens sacrificing their own people in order to take out three hundred of the defenders' ships. Allura had been shocked by that move, but it had reinforced her opinion that the Keraclon was pure evil. She couldn't have fathomed anyone turning a weapon on their own people, even if that maneuver meant they might earn a victory.

The fighting had continued, the Alliance and Arusian ships trying to keep far apart from each other so as to avoid getting caught in another one of those beams. The fighting would go on for so many hours, that Allura began to feel fatigued. She knew the other Arusians had to be feeling that same tiredness, and wondered if the Keraclon suffered similarly. But there was no one to fight back up, all their ships were on the battlefield. It was fight for as long as you could, and hope your efforts helped win Arus a permanent victory against the Keraclon.

The fighting got to the point she never saw Pidge or Hunk's lions. She began to let the Keraclon feed into her fears, Allura frightened that one or both pilots had been killed. She tried to turn the fear into rage, to let her anger propel her forward. To seek vengeance for her fallen friends as she continued her valiant fight. Both sides continue their volley of fire, Keraclon ships exploding just as often as the Alliance's.

It wasn't until the Keraclon's armada had been nearly decimated, that victory was seized. With only three large ships, and several hundred fighter jets remaining, the Keraclon fled the battlefield. They didn't even try to call back the fighter jets, the three big ships slipping into hyperspace. One of them had been badly damaged, trailing smoke as it made a feeble attempt to get away.

The Keraclon ships that were left behind had surely been in shock. Never had the Keraclon known defeat, let alone to have their superiors flee the battlefield. It sent the fighters into a tizzy, some trying to escape by flying away from planet Arus. Lotor's ship which had remained on the outskirts of the battle, picked off those wayward ships. Allura and her people, along with the Alliance would take down those who remained behind to fight.

When the three big ships of the Keraclon evacuated the field, the communication grid was restored. Immediately voices filled the airwaves, people talking. They were excited, some laughing. It was difficult to pick out any one voice, so many people were expressing joy and relief that the battle had been won. Allura found herself both crying and smiling, the tears dripping downwards as she continued to pilot her lion.

She was doubly relieved when a private communication was opened up on a secure channel. Hunk and Pidge's faces appeared in corners of her view screen, and Allura let out a delighted laugh. She was so relieved they were still alive, she thought she'd be sick. But she fought against the nausea and the dizziness, making glad exclamations to them.

Even better was the fact the fear had lifted from the battlefield completely. The remaining Keraclon weren't concentrating on their telepathy, too busy trying to keep alive. It would do them no good, the Alliance and the Arusians hunting down every last ship. The battle would not end, until the final Keraclon ship was destroyed. But it didn't mean the war with the Keraclon was at an end. If anything it was just heating up. This was but the first battle against them, and the Keraclon that had escaped was surely returning to one of their stolen worlds to alert the rest of their race of what had happened.

They would surely be gearing up their reinforcements. Allura intended to stop the Keraclon before they tried to return to Arus. It was with that determination that she rode the transport shuttle back to the control room of the Castle of Lions. Coran was waiting for her, the man looking as though he had aged several years from the stress of the battle. But beneath his bushy mustache he was smiling, relieved to see she was well.

"Princess Allura...I want to commend you on..."

"Princess!" A heavily accented voice called out, cutting the advisor off mid sentence. It was Nanny, and her appearance shocked Allura. The princess could not help but gape as the older woman ran forward, Allura having assumed she would have been evacuated with the rest of the civilians. "Thank goodness you are safe!" Nanny was saying, throwing her arms around Allura. She nearly lifted the princess off the ground with the hug, the woman looking weepy faced with relief.

"Thank goodness, you're safe Nanny." Allura corrected her, and looked over her shoulder at Coran. "And you too Coran."

"Nonsense princess, you were the one who was in the most danger." Nanny pulled back from the hug and tsked. "Just what were you thinking, going against Coran's advice?"

"I was thinking of protecting my planet." Allura answered, holding back a sigh. Nanny seemed ready to go off on a rant, the woman stern with disapproval.

"It was too dangerous for you...! When I think of how close you came to dying..." She shuddered. "You should have done as Coran asked. Left the fighting to the soldiers, and gone far from here."

"What kind of ruler would I be, if I ran and hid while others did my fighting for me?" Allura demanded.

"A safe one!" Nanny quickly retorted.

"What about you?" Allura asked. "You didn't evacuate with the others...why didn't you go to safety?"

"Ah...what would a woman of my age do on a new world?" Nanny asked. "Besides...my place is here with Coran. The least I could do is bear witness to what happens to the planet, especially with our princess fighting so hard to save it."

"Seems to me you both took an awful risk." Hunk had just arrived, apparently having heard enough of the conversation to gather what was going on. Or perhaps he was just used to Nanny's chiding, and could guess just what she had been upset about.

"Hunk!" Allura's face lit up with a smile, she was running to the large man. He held open his arms, and she latched onto him, delighted as she hugged him. Nanny huffed out a sound, surely thinking it was improper of Allura to be hugging the pilot. Young Pidge would get the same treatment, Allura just as excited to see him as she was Hunk.

"Man that was some fight!" Hunk was saying. "I thought it was never gonna end..."

"Well, logically it had to, sooner or later." Pidge pointed out. Hunk fixed him with an annoyed look. "But I know what you meant. Those Keraclon were tenacious."

"I can't believe they just up and abandoned their own people." Hunk said.

"I can. Filthy, immoral monsters! The whole lot of them! It's no wonder they sacrificed so many ships to save a few..." Nanny sniffed, haughty and self righteous at the thought.

"I bet it's the first time the Keraclon have ever even known fear." Added Pidge with a grin. He sobered at Allura's head shake.

"Not quite." She said. "There's one thing that inspired fear in them long before this battle..."

"Lotor." Coran said knowingly. "The prince, and the vaccine he carries inside him."

"Many people died for this knowledge." Allura added. "And more than a handful of worlds were destroyed as the Keraclon tried to make sure the vaccine died with Lotor and the Drules..."

"I think a lot of this could have been avoided if that beast wasn't so selfish!" Nanny announced. "Making the princess marry him before he would reveal the Drule's secret."

"He's learned his lesson Nanny." Allura told her.

"Not until after his own world paid the price." Muttered Hunk.

"It serves Lotor and the Drule right." Nanny seemed vicious in the moment. "If they hadn't tried to keep it a secret, hadn't hoped to profit off the vaccine's use..." She never got to finish her sentence, Allura had approached her. Nanny hadn't seem to realize the anger in the princess eyes was directed at her, not until Allura had viciously slapped Nanny across the face.

Silence followed the slap. Nanny's cheek was already turning red, and tears were in her eyes. She turned back to face Allura, seeming speechless with shock. "What...what was that for?" Nanny demanded when she was capable of speaking.

"How dare you!" hissed Allura, her hand still raised. She honestly thought she might slap Nanny a second time. "Do you even listen to yourself? Saying it serves him, serves the Drule right. Their world was destroyed...millions of lives lost...the Keraclon spared no one, not even one person survived the decimation of planet Doom. And you think that is what? A just reward for one man's selfish behavior?"

"Princess...I...I..." Nanny was stammering, tears rolling down her face. But Allura had a feeling Nanny did not cry for Doom.

"You may not care about the Drule that died, but there was children on that planet. And not just children, but slaves. That includes some of our own people. It wasn't just the Drule that got killed...we all suffered losses...it's wrong to revel in that, even for a moment no matter what you feel for the race at whole!"

Nanny looked as if it just occurred to her that there had been innocent people on planet Doom. She began to cry loudly, raising her apron up to her face. But Allura

made no attempt to comfort her, too angry in the moment. She couldn't believe Nanny could have been that prejudice, and some of the love she had for the woman had surely faded.

"I'm sure Nanny meant no offense..." Pidge offered awkwardly. "I mean...she just wasn't thinking when she spoke."

"Oh she meant it." A new voice had entered the conversation. Allura turned towards the entrance to the control room, and her heart did a little leap to see Lotor standing there. He looked no worse for wear, though at the moment he was grim faced. "I suppose this is the kind of attitude I can expect from a lot of your people?"

Allura had been about to rush towards him. That urge was abruptly halted at his question. "Lotor no...No one here will celebrate the destruction of Doom. Of the loss

of all those lives..."

"You can't speak for everyone..." Lotor said, and nodded at Nanny. "The hatred runs deep between our two worlds. Maybe too deep for some to forgive."

"They certainly won't be forgetting what you and yours did anytime soon..." Pidge muttered under his breath. Allura chose to ignore him for now, keeping her eyes on Lotor's.

"Yes, there will be some that will not want to forget...who will be loathe to make peace...But I believe there are more that will be willing to give you and your Empire a chance." Allura told him. "The people on board the ships that went to Doom...they will talk of what they have seen."

"I told you...I don't want pity..."

"It's not pity!" Allura protested. "Not exactly."

"Prince Lotor, we are deeply sorry for your loss." Coran spoke up. "What happened to planet Doom is a horrible thing, a terrible waste of lives. Both Drule and otherwise..." Lotor at least seemed to be listening to Coran, giving a slight nod of his head in response.

"We will have to start the healing." Allura added. "The healing of the survivors of all the worlds the Keraclon destroyed, but also healing the rift the Doom Arus war caused between the Empire and my people."

"Can such a healing even be possible?" wondered Lotor.

"We won't know until we try." Hunk said. Allura was surprised but gratified when he walked over to Lotor, and extended his hand for a shake. Lotor stared at it a moment, then did an awkward adjustment so his crutch would stay upright. He then took Hunk's hand, and the two men shook.

"Never thought I'd see the day." Pidge said with a rueful shake of his head.

"It'll be the first of many such sights." Allura was hopeful. She was also tired, fighting back a yawn. Now that the adrenaline was gone, her anger over what Nanny had said lessening, she was finding it hard to stay awake. And yet she still had much to do.

"Aye, it will be." Coran agreed. He had approached Allura, giving her another tightlipped smile. "I want to commend you on your actions today. That was very brave of you. Your father would be proud...even if he wouldn't and I don't agree completely with your decision against fleeing."

"I had to do it, Coran." Allura told him. "I couldn't leave everyone else to an unknown fate..."

"You wouldn't be you, if you had done anything else." Pidge grinned in support.

"Yes, the people of Arus are lucky to have Allura as their leader." Lotor said. He and Hunk had finished shaking hands. Nanny was still in the room, sniffling quietly as she tried to get her upset under control. But she was no longer partaking in the conversation.

Allura blushed at the words Pidge and Lotor had said. She didn't want to linger on the compliments, trying to turn business like. "We still have much to do." She told them all. "The Keraclon may have lost this battle, but you can bet they will be gearing up to retaliate...we cannot allow them the chance. We must strike first...and on their territory..."

"More fighting..." Pidge groaned. "That last battle was hard enough..."

"I'm afraid so Pidge..." She glanced at Coran. "We could use black lion and red lion. Any word on Keith?"

"Lance has yet to find him. Our estimations put him a hundred thousand light years away from the border of the Denubian Galaxy. If Keith is there, Lance will surely find him..."

"What if he's not there?" Worried Pidge. "What if he got knocked into another galaxy?"

"Then we will keep looking for him." Allura decided firmly. "Lance may not return in time to help us with the Keraclon extermination...but when it's all over and done with, we can join in the search for Keith..."

"Do you really think the captain is alive after hearing no word from him all this time?" Lotor asked. Everyone ignored that awful suggestion he put in their minds, Hunk seizing on something Allura said.

"Extermination? So we really gonna do it. We really gonna kill off every last one of the Keraclon?" He couldn't hide his surprise, it was so unlike Allura to advocate killing, let alone a killing on so large a scale.

"I believe so." She felt Lotor staring at her, the prince wanting to see if her resolve was true about this. "I intend to meet with the Galaxy Alliance, and several prominent world leaders to discuss the Keraclon threat. I will actively advocate we exterminate the Keraclon, down to every last one of them." Coran and the others were nodding, seeming in support of this genocide. Allura locked eyes with Lotor. "Lotor...I want you to be at that meeting."

"What?" Everyone seemed surprised at her request.

"Lotor is not only my husband, but also the only known heir of the Doom Empire's remains." Allura stated. "We need to get the word out to those planets that the crown prince still lives...we need to do whatever it takes to get him situated as ruler before less legitimate parties try to take over. But more than that, I want the Doom Empire to work with us and the Alliance to help wipe out the Keraclon threat. Together, we would be able to make an army the likes of which has never been seen, even by the Keraclon."

Lotor nodded, his lips twitching as though fighting a smile. "My people would like that. They would enjoy paying back the Keraclon for the destruction of the home world and the people that lived on Doom."

"Then it's agreed?" Allura asked. "You'll stand by my side at the meeting?"

"Of course." This time he did smile, his voice softly teasing. "I'd stand with you no matter the place..."

"Oh boy...there he goes again..." Pidge muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes. "Trying to be Mister Smooth."

"Thank you. Coran...get on releasing the marriage announcement. Contact as many of the Drule worlds as you can...let them know you are authorized to speak to them under the prince's orders." She was fighting to keep her eyes open, feeling more than a little dizzy now. "See how many support Lotor. Make note of the worlds that seem ready to cause trouble..."

"What will you do if there are worlds that do not want to accept Lotors' rule?" A curious Coran asked. Allura gave a grim flicker of a smile.

"I am sure we will find a way to persuade them towards Lotor."

"I think if we can make it clear they will prosper under my rule as a united Empire, rather then separate into smaller kingdoms and face a future of uncertainty..." Lotor stated. "They will come around. No matter how much the greedier of nobles tries to threaten them."

"Are the nobles that big a problem?" Coran wanted to know.

"You have no idea." Lotor answered with a sigh. "The destruction of Doom, and the death of my father...it will be just the opportunity some of them have been waiting years for. They will not take kindly to knowing I still live."

"Will they come after you?" Hunk asked.

"Undoubtedly so." Lotor grimaced. "Some won't hesitate to try and make the rumors of my death an actuality."

"Fantastic" grumbled Hunk. "Just what we don't need...more trouble..."

"We'll have to worry about those power hungry nobles later." Allura decided. "First we deal with the Keraclon and getting word out that Lotor still lives, and that he wants his crown. If those nobles are smart, they'll wait until after the Keraclon threat is eliminated before making trouble for us." She was starting to sway, thinking she might collapse at any moment. She began to excuse herself, and barely got the words out before she was falling.

"Princess!" Several voices shouted as one, and it was Hunk who caught Allura before she hit the floor. She saw Lotor's face, the prince both concerned for her and chagrined. He was upset his injuries prevented him from being able to catch her, and he looked more than a little bothered that she was being held in Hunk's arms.

"It's all right." Allura whispered, struggling to keep her eyes open. She didn't even know if she was speaking to them all, or trying to just reassure Lotor. "I'm just tired...we all are..."

"I'll take you to your room." Hunk decided. She felt herself being lifted up into his arms, and barely heard Lotor's response. The prince was insisting he would come along, and no one seem inclined to argue against that. Allura both wanted to stay up and over see the work Coran had to do, but also she had the desperate need to give in to her body's urgings. But there really was no choice in the matter, and she was out like a light before Hunk and Lotor exited the control room.

To Be Continued...

Michelle

LostinNY, oh thank you so much! I'm honored you like this one so much! Though I quiver in fear at the thought of trying to rewrite it into PG territory. PG is so not my thing. It's practical impossible for me, and the one time I thought I could do without sex, readers on my journal pitched a fit, insisting they wanted a sex scene! (The fic in question was Divine Misunderstandings.) But even without a love making scene, it still was too much in there for it to fit in a PG rating. I really need to check out this comic you mentioned in your review. I think I downloaded a copy found by my friend Nichole...but I never had a chance to sit down and read. But someday I hope too! Thanks again!


	27. Chapter 27

It was a deep sleep Allura fell into. So deep that she didn't dream. Or if she did, they were scattered fragments that had no focus and little significance. Certainly nothing that was worthy of retaining once she was awake. It was rather a relief to awake with no dreams or nightmares chasing her into consciousness. Allura knew she had been lucky, her dreams could have been haunted. Both by the battle she had just taken part in, and the decisions she had been making just moments before collapsing.

Allura knew it wouldn't always be that way. The elimination of an entire race, even if that people was as evil as the Keraclon, was not one that was easy. It would weigh heavy on her mind and her heart, her soul burdened by what she would advise the Galaxy Alliance to do. She felt guilt, even as Allura was sure this was the only course left to them.

She let out a sigh, as her eyes began to flutter open. It was dark in her room. No one had bothered to tie back her curtains to allow the sunlight inside. It was then she wondered what time it was, Allura hoping she hadn't been asleep for longer than normal. Especially now that she had so much to do! But she knew it would be just like her friends to insist she get as much rest as possible, more concerned for her well being than any work she had to do.

She sighed slowly, torn between smiling with fondness and frowning with annoyance. In the end the frown won, and a voice that was startling in it's familiarity and nearness pointed it out.

"You're frowning Allura."

Any sleepiness that might have remained in her, evaporated in an instant. Allura tried to jerk up right out of bed, and found she could not. An arm was laying over her, positioned just under her breasts. That arm had made sure she couldn't sit up, and as she turned her face she found Lotor's head sharing her pillow. He stared at her, eyes critical as he looked her over. He seemed to be trying to determine if she had had enough sleep and wasn't in any hurry to let her up.

"Lotor..." She blinked rapidly, noting he was shirtless again. "Wha...what are you doing in my room?"

"I'm your husband Allura. Where else am I supposed to sleep?" He asked this in a perfectly reasonable tone. Allura found herself reacting in just the opposite way, trying not to flush in response.

"There's a guest room that is perfectly suitable to your needs!"

He tsked in response, and never looked away from her. "We can't always keep separate rooms. It's not...proper."

"Since when do you care about being proper?" wondered a blushing Allura. She then shook her head. "Never mind. You're only proper when it suits you..." He chuckled at that. "I can't believe you're here..."

"You collapsed Allura...did you think I would be content to remain far from your side?"

"Well...no. But..." She tried not to fidget under his arm, conscious that too much movement would cause it to press into her breasts. "I didn't think the others would allow it. Especially not Nanny..."

"That maid of yours has had little to say since you slapped her." Allura flushed again, but found she did not regret striking Nanny. "As for the others...they couldn't have stopped me if they tried. Oh...they issued some feeble protests." He added after a pause. "But their reasoning was flawed. We are after all married, in the eyes of the Gods, by the laws of your people and mine. They'd have no right to keep me from you."

"I think I liked it better when you were too upset to be so...so demanding!" Allura muttered. She thought a hint of a smile played on his lips.

"Oh believe me Allura. This is hardly me at my most demanding. but then..." He inched closer to her, nuzzling his face into her hair. "You already know that."

Was it possible for a blush to extend all the way down to one's toes? If so, Allura was surely red all over. And all because she did know, Allura remembering how he had insisted she bring him to Arus, and then demanded she wed and bed him before he would give up his secrets.

"Ah..." She had to cough to clear her throat, finding the words stuck inside it. "Are you feeling better? About what happened...?" He stiffened in response, and Allura thought the answer was no. He might be willing to be a little playful with her, but he was still in pain. "How did you sleep?" She asked, concerned.

"I didn't."

"Lotor!" She gasped. "You mean to tell me you were up all night?"

"Well...mostly." He allowed, lifting his head from her hair. "I think I did manage to sleep at some point...but then the nightmares came...But mostly, I spent the night watching you."

Again he made her flustered, and more than a bit horrified to think he had studied her while she was asleep. She hoped she didn't do something like snore or drool! "Im really not that interesting..." She finally said, her tone more than a bit defensive.

"I think you are." Lotor insisted. He smiled again. "You've always fascinated me..."

That was a new one. She knew he insisted he loved her, and others would say Lotor was obsessed with her. He had been called many things, stalker, pervert, would be kidnapper. Allura had always assumed he had been fixated on her because of her good looks. But that didn't explain why he hadn't felt the same way to her cousin Romelle. She knew he had treated Romelle horribly, and at one point had tried to force the princess to marry him. Lotor had explained that away as being half out of his mind with grief. In the end, when all was said and done, he had stay focused on Allura. She wasn't sure if she should be flattered or annoyed, and she was still bothered by thoughts of his history with her cousin.

"You're frowning again Allura." Lotor sighed, and moved his arm. She immediately tried to sit up, only to have his hand push her down. She noted he chose to place his hand directly over her breasts, as though he couldn't outright resist taking a feel of her. In any case, she found herself flat against the pillows, Lotor looming over her. When it became apparent she wasn't going to try to sit up, he moved his arm. He brought his fingers to her lips, tracing over them. "I like it so much better when you smile..."

"I haven't had much to smile about." It was the truth. But Allura also realized since this whole adventure began, she hadn't really smiled at Lotor. She had frowned, she had glared, she had scream and she had cried. She had argued, cursed him, wished she had left him for dead. Truth be known, she couldn't remember ever smiling in Lotor's presence except for maybe when they first escape the Keraclon about a week ago.

"I'm sorry for that." He seemed sincere, Lotor's fingers moving to caress her cheek. "I've know I've been to blame. I haven't given you much reason to be happy...especially with me. But I want to change all that. I want to make you smile...always if possible."

"No one can smile all the time." She pointed out. "It's not natural! Besides...a good marriage-good relationship has it's ups and downs. There's tears and sadness, in addition to smiles and happiness. Even anger..."

"I think you and I have had enough anger to last us a lifetime."

"I think you're right." She agreed. "But it doesn't mean it won't happen again...we're bound to have disagreements..." She gave him a pointed look. "Such as about whether or not I should be allowed out of this bed."

He didn't immediately let her up, Lotor actually thinking about it. "I suppose we have to get up sometime."

"We do." This time when she sat up, he didn't try to stop her. "There's much to do...things to plan, people to meet with..."

"We won't be able to accomplish it all in one day." Lotor reasoned. "It will take time to gather the key members of the Alliance and the Empire..."

"I know...and I have to prepare for what I will say." She tried not to grimace, knowing she wanted action, not to be stuck with paperwork and figuring out her

arguments for the Keraclon's elimination. "Will you help me?" She asked Lotor.

"Of course." Lotor nodded. "I'm good with arguments." He actually smirked. "I'm good at winning them..."

"So I've noticed." Allura retorted, and slid out of bed. It was then she realized she was in her frumpy purple and pink nightgown. She wondered who had dressed her, and tried to fight the irrational moment of embarrassment. It wasn't like her husband hadn't seen her in less than this after all!

"Ah, it wasn't me." Lotor gestured to his broken arm. "There was no way I would have been able to get off a uniform as skin tight as yours. Some maids saw to your undressing." Her irrational relief faded when he added the following. "I supervised." He laughed when she turned red faced, Allura wondering what went through the maids minds to allow this.

Coughing to cover her embarrassment, Allura hurried over to the windows. She drew back her rose pink curtains, and sunlight flooded the room. A new reason to be embarrassed filled her. This was only the second time Lotor had been inside her all too pink bedroom. She didn't think the first time had lasted long enough for him to get a good impression of it. After all, the prince had been so intent on kidnapping her, and then fighting off her guards.

Lotor wasn't looking around the room, but watching Allura as she moved about. She realized that while she was asleep, he had had enough time to study their surroundings to his heart's content. She couldn't even imagine what he thought of the room, and Allura found herself wishing she hadn't been so overzealous in displaying her favorite color. Now the room seemed too pink, from the bedspread and pillows, to the carpet and the curtains. Even the walls were painted a subdued shade of pink, and her desk while made of wood had a rose patterned place mat on it's top.

She was in the midst of grabbing the nearest outfit, which of course had some pink bordering an otherwise all white suit. It was then and there she made a decision. Once the whole Keraclon situation was over with, and Lotor had a secure hold on his Empire, she would overhaul her room's motif. Glancing at her closest, she decided she could use a new wardrobe too.

"I'm just going to take a shower..." Allura announced.

"Good idea." Lotor was casual as he rose from the bed. His borrowed pajama bottoms were slipping low on his hips. She had to advert her eyes quickly, but not before she saw the treasure trail of white hairs peering over the edge of his waistband. "I'll take one too."

"Me first." Allura announced, but Lotor was heading towards her.

"We should...conserve water."

"Arus is not in the middle of a drought." She retorted, and all but ran to the bathroom. She'd quickly lock and bolt the door, but had a feeling if Lotor really wanted in he'd be able to break down the door, even with his injuries!

Allura took the quickest shower of her life. She dressed just as quickly, and emerged to find Lotor still not dressed. He was limping around the bedroom, his crutch laying near the bed. "Are you sure you should be walking without your crutch?"

"It's just a twisted ankle, and it's feeling stronger...I think a little walking will do me good..."

"I think you should get a doctor's opinion before you decide that." Allura frowned. "The shower is all yours." He nodded, and limped towards the bathroom. Allura spotted his clothing folded on top of a chair by the bed. She quickly ran and got the clothing, and brought it into the bathroom. She wanted Lotor to have no excuse to walk out naked on her!

Lotor took a much more leisurely shower. He was in the bathroom so long, the maids had time to arrive and make the bed, asking Allura what she and her husband would like for lunch. They giggled but made no overt remarks and had lunch laid out on the table long before Lotor emerged from the bathroom.

"Something smells good." Lotor said upon his exit. His hair was still wet, and slicked back. But he had put on his clothing, much to Allura's relief. She didn't think she could handle a naked Lotor at this time! But she also took it as a sign of his suffering that he had gotten dressed without a fuss. The Lotor she was used to would have done anything and everything to tempt her into having sex with him.

"Marie and Anna brought us lunch." Allura gestured for him to sit down. He chose the seat besides her, rather than sit across from her. She tried to ignore the way his one leg touched hers, Allura pretending it took immense concentration to eat her toast.

"Ah, they're good girls." Lotor said, and immediately reached for the bacon.

Allura blinked, and stared at him. "How do you know anything about them?"

"They were one of the regulars who served me this past week on Arus. Always so respectful and quick to follow orders."

"Oh." She wondered why she felt relieved, nibbling furiously on her toast.

"Doctor Gorma wants to see us." Lotor said, filling his plate with generous portions of each item.

"More blood samples?" Allura asked.

"Yes and no. He's concerned about your collapse..."

"I was just exhausted!" Allura interrupted. "I had barely slept the night before the battle, and then the actual preparation and fighting took up so much time..." She shrugged. "I'm not surprised I collapsed."

"Still, it concerns us all." Lotor tasted his eggs, dipping bacon into the gooey mess. "Doctor Gorma wants to make sure it's nothing serious."

"Nothing serious? Like what...?"

"There's some concern about the possible side effects of the vaccine." Lotor explained. "We still don't know what if any effects the vaccines will have. On either Drule or human..." Now she felt worried, wondering if her collapse had been because of the vaccine. "He's having everyone that survived the battle tested. He's advised the Alliance to do the same with Garrison's soldiers."

Allura felt a little better to hear that she wasn't the only one they were concerned about. She also remembered the unknown effects of the vaccine was why they weren't sure it was a good idea for prolonged use of it. What could be okay for short term use, might have devastating effects if injected into the blood stream year after year. It was another reason why Allura felt they should kill off the Keraclon, rather than risk shooting up with something that could have deadly side effects.

"Both your scientists and the Alliance want to continue to try and replicate the vaccine exactly like the one in my blood." Lotor continued. "The vaccine you used for this fight, while effective, still allowed some of the fear to be received. Thankfully most of the soldiers were able to ignore it, shoving it to the back of their mind. But some soldiers have been complaining that the fear had been too much for them..." He sighed. "Those are the same soldiers who fled rather than fight the Keraclon."

Allura hadn't even realized that some soldiers had run from the battle. She let the surprise show in her eyes. "I didn't think the fear was that bad..."

"Then they are natural born cowards who needed only a little push to flee at the first sign of trouble." Lotor looked disgusted now.

"Maybe...or maybe they never had experience with fear of that nature." Allura was willing to try and defend them, to try and see all reasons for their behavior on the battlefield.

Lotor snorted, hardly amused. "There's another concern."

"Oh?"

"The vaccine you've been injected with...we don't know if it will be safe to inject another version of it into you, before the year is up."

"It's fine." Allura assured him. "The vaccine that's in me...it was enough to allow me to fight effectively. I was able to withstand the Keraclon's fear waves. I don't need a

stronger, or better version."

"Ideally, I'd prefer it if you never faced the Keraclon again." He grumbled when she shook her head.

"I'm going to have to. No matter what the Alliance decides, one way or another, I will have to fight the Keraclon. If not to kill them entirely, then to defend Arus and other worlds from them." Allura tried to think what might cheer him up. "You can fight to, once your injuries are healed."

"And I intend too!" Lotor exclaimed. "Provided there are some left for me to battle..." He didn't quite smirk then, still too ill at ease with her insistence to fight the Keraclon. "It seems my wife is eager to wipe them all out before I can lift a finger to help..."

"I don't enjoy killing." She told him, tone quiet. "But the Keraclon...are making it a necessity..."

"I'm just surprised." Lotor admitted. "I never thought you could be so ruthless."

She flushed. It was an angry kind of embarrassment that filled her. "I don't like having to be. But what else can I do?"

"I didn't mean it as an insult." Lotor said quickly. She wasn't mollified, not liking that he admired this ruthless side of her. He pushed away his plate, and reached for her hand. "Allura...do be sure this is what you want to do..."

"Lotor?"

"The course you are about to set on...it's one that won't be able to be reversed..." He gazed into her eyes, expression serious. "To kill off an entire race of beings...it will weigh heavy on your soul. It will change you...and not for the better."

"I never thought you'd be the Keraclon's advocate. Especially after what they did to your home world."

"Oh, I'm never in favor of saving their miserable lives." His look was malicious now. "I'd personally kill every last one of them if I could. But I'm different from you...I have many crimes that already stain my soul. What's one more in the face of them all?"

"Even if you have many, each one costs you." Allura pointed out.

"It would be better if I could shoulder the cost for you." He retorted. "Think long and hard...we have a vaccine...we could give it to all the worlds in the Denubian Galaxy. Everyone would just have to get yearly shots, and be prepared to fight at any moment..."

"Always having to watch our backs, always having to be ready to fight...it's no way to live." She spoke from experience.

"Ah, but the galaxy will never be completely at peace." Lotor argued. "If not Doom, if not the Keraclon, then someone else will rise up..."

"Is Doom still going to be a threat against the Alliance and the free worlds?" She was alarmed then, trying to pull her hand back. He tightened his grip on her, and held her gaze with his.

"I don't know. I hope not...My father is dead. Now is as good a time as any for change. But Allura. You must be aware. Not all the Drule will embrace change. Especially the changes you and your Alliance would try to force on them. We have known a certain way of life, and many will not want to give up the luxury slaves afford us."

Allura sighed, but stopped trying to get her hand away from him. "But you'll be King. You can make them..."

"I can do many things. But I cannot force acceptance. Why even now, there are some who probably fear what my marriage to you means. They know how much I desire you, and they will fear I will do anything to keep and appease you."

She thought she already knew the truth of that. Allura remembered how he had so coldly pronounced he wasn't like other men. That he wouldn't say or act a certain way to keep a woman in her comfort's zone. It had certainly been true this past week, Lotor pushing her, sometimes harder than she had ever been pushed. And all in order to get his way.

"The Drules would be relieved..." Allura said a last.

"Oh?" A curious tilt of his head. "About...?"

"To know the truth." She answered. "You've hardly been pressed to be appeasing...at least to anyone that isn't yourself." Something like a smile played at the corners of his mouth. But the look in his eyes didn't match up to the smile.

"I am used to getting my way." He said. "That hasn't changed."

It might never, she realized. A lifetime of having his demands catered to was something that anyone, not just Lotor, would have trouble giving up. In that regard, he was very much like the other Drules. There would be resistance, and not just from the nobles. Lotor might retain his Empire, but he and his citizens might never agree to the terms the Alliance would try to force on them. Allura could only hope that the Alliance and the Doom Empire could set aside their differences long enough to deal with the Keraclon as a unified front.

To Be Continued...

Michelle

LostinNY, hello my friend! Funny and true! Though I must admit, I usually enjoying writing naughty! XD I'm not worrying too much of the new show fanfic wise, since I doubt the new show as it stands will bring in any NEW Lotor fans, or new Lotor Allura fans. What they've done to his character, it seems like they are purposefully trying to create someone for the kids to hate. So at most, I bet new fans won't understand the Lotor Allura appeal, and flame us old schoolers for liking the character and pairing. So sad. And yes, mature bad boy Lotor but not a stupid one is my preferred flavor too! And thank you for taking the time to read and comment. It is ALWAYS appreciated! *hugs*


	28. Chapter 28

They couldn't lounge around at lunch forever. It was to be a busy day, for both Lotor and Allura. The visit to Doctor Gorma would be only the begginning, things needing to be carefully considered and planned. Truth be known, Allura could have done without the doctor's poking and prodding. But she knew from experience that Coran and the others would not allow her to do much of anything until she got the okay from the good doctor. Especially in light of her recent collapse.

And so Allura, along with Lotor, found themselves sitting inside one of the hospital's empty exam rooms. Blood had been drawn from both of them, although Lotor had given up more vials than Allura. Gorma and his assistant nurse disappeared shortly after that, the doctor insisting on putting a rush on the results of Allura's blood tests. Allura tried to make him understand there was no need for such fuss. She felt strongly that the only reason she had collapsed was due to how tired she had been. But Doctor Gorma would not be appeased by such an excuse. He was just one of many who wanted to make sure their princess was in good health.

She sighed for the umpteenth time, pacing about the exam room. Every pair of approaching footsteps was an invitation to hope, Allura wanting Gorma to come and free her from this exam. So far, save for a nurse to explain that the Doctor had gotten tied up with another patient, no one had come to see them. Frankly, it was driving Allura nuts, the girl feeling like a cage bird who badly wanted to fly free.

Lotor sat in one of the exam room's chairs, his crutch positioned in easy reach. Despite his brief stint in the bedroom without it, his ankle still wasn't ready for straight walking without the crutch's assistance. Even limited by his twisted ankle, Allura sensed Lotor wasn't anywhere as impatient as she was. But then, he had grown used to the doctor's demands, having played lab rat for the scientists these past few days.

Allura found herself muttering things under her breath, a manifestation of her impatience. But other than that, the room was silent, Lotor going so far as to lean back in his chair and close his eyes. She didn't try to interfere with the moments he stole for a nap. If what he said was true, he had been up for most of the night, unable to sleep for fear of the nightmares his mind would torment him with.

Allura wondered if she would have her own nightmares to endure. The wholesale destruction of another race, even one she had acknowledge as irredeemably evil, wasn't something that sat easy with Allura. Not even when the Drule had been their most ruthless, had Allura ever thought to simplify things by exterminating their entire race. But the Keraclon were proving to be a thousand times worse than the Drules, and though she could make a case that they were sowing what they reaped, Allura still couldn't feel completely at peace with the thought of committing genocide.

Even worse was Lotor's odd attempts to make her reconsider what she was about to do. He had said he wasn't trying to advocate for the Keraclon, that he would gladly see every last one of them dead. No, what he was more worried about was the effect such an act would have on Allura. How it would change her, upset her. She got the feeling he would much rather be the one to make that decision, and let Allura play at more peaceful solutions.

In his own way he was trying to protect her. To keep her hands clean. Or cleaner than they would be if she pushed for the Keraclon's extermination. Allura thought she knew what she had to do regarding the Keraclon. But that was before lunch with Lotor, his talk of the burden, the stain on one's soul such an act would bring her. He thought himself stained enough, while considering her as something more pure even with all the Drules and Keraclon that had died at Allura's hands. But she supposed she could understand the difference, those deaths she had caused had been acts of self defense, and for the preservation of her world.

Allura didn't like that she was now full of doubts on what to do. If one had asked her just hours earlier, she would have said the course laid out before her was obvious. Now she wasn't so sure, and that made her all the more agitated. Especially since she knew they had to make a decision before the Keraclon launched their next attack. Allura most definitely did not want them targeting Arus a second time, especially on the heels of so recent a battle!

The civilians of Arus, the ones who had evacuated, had yet to be called back. Allura wasn't about to order them home until she knew for certain that it would be safe. She had thought safe meant destroying the Keraclon completely. She still did. Allura just didn't think there was a way to defeat the Keraclon without killing them all off. The vaccine could only protect those injected from the Keraclon's fear inducing telepathy. It couldn't protect them from their ships, and their weapons, including those that were capable of leveling whole cities in a matter of seconds!

What was the galaxy's options if they didn't do away with the Keraclon? To constantly be on guard against their attacks? Not all the worlds had a defense force big enough to repel invaders, and some did not have the resources to constantly be at war. Even Arus, in the war with Doom, had been pushed to it's limits. Many of Allura's people impoverished and going without necessities.

Allura wouldn't be surprised if worrying about this would not cause her to develop a headache. She wondered if she could take something to prevent that from happening, since it didn't look like she would be free to not think about this matter for some time. Already a good portion of the day would have to be spent towards her preparing her arguments for the Alliance meeting. Some of that would involve reviewing what she already knew, both about the vaccine and the Keraclon's actions.

She sighed again, her pacing bringing her closer to the exam room's door. No matter how hard she stared, it remained shut. And Lotor stayed asleep, not roused by her movements or sighs. She didn't begrudge him the sleep though. If he was to start meeting with the remains of the Doom Empire, he had to be well rested. Allura knew enough of the Drules to know that they would seize on any perceived weakness. That included a ruler that was visibly too tired to concentrate on what was going on!

Allura tried to turn her mind to wondering about the Doom Empire. She couldn't begin to imagine the kind of upheaval that was occurring, Allura sure that by now they had discovered what had happened to the home world. She could only hope that Coran was able to calm some of the chaos with the announcement that the crown heir was alive and wed to the princess of Arus. But she also knew not all the Drules would take the marriage announcement without their own fears and paranoia raging out of control.

Earlier, Lotor had told her how the Drules feared what their marriage would mean for their way of life. That many believed their prince would do anything to keep Allura. To keep her, and to appease her. She hadn't flat out asked him if anything had changed regarding that. But then Allura had been certain she already knew based on comments he made days ago. Those days seemed like a lifetime ago! But even a lifetime might not be enough to change a person, let alone Lotor's attitude on how he would not play towards keeping Allura in her comfort zone.

In some ways a man who would cater to her every need and desire would make life simpler. But Allura wasn't sure she wanted a yes man for a husband. Uncertain though she was, Allura would gladly welcome a few moments during this time where her life would be challenge free. But that didn't appear to be a wish that would be granted any time soon. Certainly not while her head continued to buzz with all the decisions and plans she had to make, the things she had to consider.

She was making what seemed like her fiftieth pass by the door when it opened. Allura turned towards it, trying to keep the impatience off her face. She gratified to see Doctor Gorma entering, a chart already in his hands.

"Well, Doctor?" Allura demanded. "Has everything checked out for the moment?"

"For the moment, yes." Gorma agreed, once he had closed the door. The sound was enough to rouse Lotor, the prince blinking rapidly as he tried to become more alert. "There's nothing overtly suspicious showing in your blood work."

"That's good!" Allura exclaimed.

"Although..." Gorma continued as though Allura had not spoken. "We would like to keep monitoring it for the next few days."

"Is there some cause for concern?" asked Lotor.

"Well, yes and no." Gorma answered. "The vaccine is something that's never before been used...we don't know how a human's body chemistry will react to it. We don't know what side effects, or possible dangers there exists from use of it. Short term and long term could both prove dangerous..."

This was all stuff Allura heard a dozen times before, and she fought not to make an impatient gesture. "I will be sure to alert you to any noticed oddities I may experience in these coming days..."

"I would advise you do just that." Gorma told her. "Even if it seems insignificant, the slightest thing, even a headache or nausea might be cause for alarm."

She frowned, but it was Lotor who spoke up. "Has anyone fallen ill since being administered the vaccine?"

"No one has collapsed yet from it." Gorma began, but Allura was already interrupting.

"So you have ruled out my collapse as being caused by the vaccine?" At his nod, she felt oddly triumphant. She had known her body, had known the cause behind her collapse as that of an extreme need for sleep.

"The collapse may have been from overexertion, but we've been getting numerous complaints about other potential side effects." Continued the Doctor. "Several people have had repeated nosebleeds, and some have been complaining about a persistent ringing in their ears. There's even been a case of a woman who has suffered frequent nausea ever since she had been first injected." He glanced Lotor's way. "Have you noticed anything off about your body?"

"No." Lotor shook his head, then gestured with his bandaged hands at his broken arm. "But as I believe I've mentioned previously, I've been on so many different medications, it would be hard to tell just what was causing the side effects."

"Hmmm." Doctor Gorma was pensive now.

"It could also be that the Drules had perfected the vaccine..." suggested Allura. "I mean...we didn't manage to make an exact copy. Or maybe, the vaccine reacts differently to humans and Drules..."

"Those are all factors to be considered." agreed Doctor Gorma. "Whatever the case, my staff and I will continue to monitor the vaccine's effect on you all."

"That's fine." Allura said. She knew it was important work, the doctors' findings might prove invaluable to the scientists' attempt to work with the vaccines. And she didn't want any of her people's health endangered any further that it might already be. "Well, Doctor...if that is all, would you excuse me?"

"Oh yes, of course." The Doctor said. "You can inform Coran that I've given you a clean bill of health...for now at least."

She nodded, trying not to be uneasy with the thought of that changing anytime soon. "Thank you." She said, already moving towards the door. Noise from behind her, alerted Allura to the fact Lotor was moving to follow her.

"If you're through with me, doctor, I have things to do..." Lotor was saying. Doctor Gorma murmured his permission for the prince to leave. Allura held open the door for Lotor, glancing one last time at Doctor Gorma. He appeared to be studying the chart, but his expression didn't betray his thoughts. She wondered then if that chart even had anything to do with her or Lotor.

"Well, that was a good two hours wasted." Lotor said lightly.

She nodded in agreement. "But I bet you're relieved to know my collapse had nothing to do with the vaccine."

"Indeed I am." He replied, following her as they walked the hospital's corridors. "I didn't like seeing you like that..." She gave him a side long glance, but said nothing in response. "When you collapsed...it...it worried me." He admitted.

"But I told you there was nothing to worry about!" Allura exclaimed. "I was just very, very tired..."

"None of us could know that for sure..." Lotor retorted. "It was very unsettling...don't do that again Allura. Don't push yourself to that point."

"I...I can't make any promises about that." Allura told him. That earned her a frown in reply. She hastened to explain. "We're going to be very busy...there are things that need to be decided, plans to be made...eventually we will have to face off against the Keraclon. If we don't strike first, we leave ourselves open to their attacks. An attack that could come at any time. If I have to sacrifice sleep to get everything done that I want to accomplish, I will."

"Allura..." He actually growled out her name, his eyes narrowing at her.

"You're in no position to complain." She retorted fiercely. "You've barely been sleeping since we left Doom..."

"A Drule can go much longer than a human can without rest."

"Yes, but even a Drule must eventually give in to exhaustion." She pointed out. "You have to try to sleep. If only to keep your enemies from taking advantage of you. I'll be guarding your back, but I can only accomplish so much...especially in regard to the other Drules..."

His expression evened out. "I think we should take each other's advice, and both sleep when needed."

Allura wondered if it could be as simple as that. But she didn't make him any promises, turning away from him. "Do you think Coran has had enough time to contact the Drule worlds?"

"Not all of them." Lotor said. "But I'm sure as soon as he made first contact, the various spies of the court began alerting interested individuals...Although I have to warn you, not all the ones who have been alerted will be on my side..."

"No, that would make it too easy." Allura sighed. "So what will we have to deal with once the rest of the Empire knows you are alive...?"

"Oh the usual...back stabbing, people jockeying for position." Lotor said in an airy tone. "And of course, the assassination attempts."

"Assassination attempts?" She had ground to a halt so suddenly, Lotor nearly walked into her.

"It is the favored way of getting rid of the competition." Lotor told her. "Don't look so upset. I won't make an easy target for them. Even injured as I am..." She wasn't reassured and said as much. He didn't quite smile at her concern. "I would worry more about myself first and foremost if I were you, Allura."

"Me? Why? What do you mean?" Her brow had furrowed.

He maneuvered himself closer to the elevator, using his crutch to press the call button. "Well, as my wife, that puts you in both an enviable and coveted position." She still didn't understand, frowning as she gazed at him. "You now stand poised as one half the ruling figure of the Doom Empire. Many a Drule female would have killed to be my Queen...they may still attempt it. For that matter, those opposed to my marrying you for reasons that have nothing to do with them sitting on my throne, will try for both our lives."

Her jaw had dropped, Allura staring as he entered the newly arrived elevator. "It's as I said over lunch...they really do fear the power you might hold over me...the changes you would try to bring to the Drule way of life." He made an impatient gesture, waiting for her to enter the elevator. She moved, but it was like she was an automon responding to it's masters orders.

She continued to remain in a state of shock, even after the elevator's door had closed, and Lotor had pushed for the main floor of the castle. After everything that had happened, the ties she now shared with Lotor, it had failed to register just what it meant to be the prince of Doom's wife. Never had Allura considered it meant she would now be one half ruler of the Doom Empire, able to affect it's people, and bring change to them. It was as exciting as it was a daunting task, and Allura wasn't sure she was ready to take on the burden of an entire empire. And she especially didn't want to deal with any would be assassins, and Drules who were greedy for her crown.

For that matter, what would happen to Arus if something were to happen to Allura? When she had made the original treaty between Arus and Doom, she had been more concerned with keeping her people and planet safe from Doom's usual tactics. She hadn't given a thought that she was marrying the crown heir of an entire empire, and what it would mean once the current ruler passed on.

Frankly she hadn't expected Lotor to want to share his throne with her! He had always seemed the type to want to retain all the power for himself. And yet here he was, talking as if she would be his equal in power where the Doom Empire was concerned! And even if he didn't want or need her help in ruling, it also sounded like those threatened by Allura, would still take the measures needed to come after her. As if she needed the problem of people trying to kill her, in addition to all the other things she had to deal with!

A side glance at Lotor showed he was wearing a smile. Small but pleased, as if he knew the effect his little announcement had had on her. Allura wasn't sure she liked the air of smugness about him, but wasn't sure how to rid him of it.

It felt like an eternity had gone by since he had dropped that bombshell on her. But in actuality only seconds had passed, the elevator announcing their arrival with a ding. Lotor stepped out first, Allura slowly following him, still in a daze. She would continue in that manner, right up until he reminded her that she had still yet to return his sword.

"I'd like it back now Allura." He told her. "As per your promise..."

"Right..." Allura remembered now what she had told him, promising she'd hand it over once they were back on Arus. She wondered how he could concern himself over something that seemed so inconsequential. It must have shown on her face, Lotor offering an explanation without her prodding.

"My people will wonder why I go about unarmed if I appear before them without my sword. You could say it is recognized as a part of me...Not to mention I will feel better to have it at my side." A slow smirk then. "If any assassins dare come near you or me, I will use my sword to kill them."

She wasn't reassured, Allura thinking he couldn't do much to wield a sword in his current condition. Whatever the case, she would have to inform Coran of these new developments. If only to have security in the castle tightened against intruders and would be assassins. She wondered how long it would take Lotor's detractors to mobilize their resources in this regard, Allura wishing she had realized what marriage to Lotor meant sooner. They would have had more time to prepare, to protect both themselves and the planet from Drule threats. Following Lotor into the castle's control room, Allura could only hope that they would have a few more days of peace before it all shattered.

Meh for the ending line..._

To Be Continued...

Michelle

KMS5665, you would not be the first one to wonder that! But no, my intention when I wrote that, was simply she was so tired, so exhuasted from everything that she eventually had to sleep or collapse. Maybe later she'll get pregnant, though right now I feel I have enough to deal with in this story, without adding a baby to the mix! XD Lucky Allura, eh?


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